Wailed it with some Homeric fervor, like a freakin' mythological beast. We had to dub the spot Ewok Village now. We did our best to drive down there, but the car was no Delica.
A quarter mile hoof up the rock beach we left our sandals and the keys. Brant and I had to pee so we were first in the water. He took off like a rocket, well, it felt like it because everyone was faster in the water than me. Alex passes me too. Jordan sticks with me and gives me pointers about paddling, which is nice because I look like a Viking on the teeny board I was using. No offense, teeny board riders. Once we got past the island, a weird rip current dragged us into a sharp rocky shallow area. The waves were picking up, so we got psyched. We charged them head on, and took a lot of punishment, me the most. (I'm not as fast of a paddler as them, remember?) I actually got sucked into the whitewash and was force fed about a gallon of Okireefwater. Delicious. I gave up the fight and paddled around the whitewash out past the breakers and joined the crew. We were all smiles, happy that everyone made it and was okay. At this point the waves have picked up and are agreeing with the surf report- overhead to doubleoverhead. Right when I got comfortable with the incoming waves, conversation of wave attack strategy and shallow reef underheel, one of the more magnificent of the wave-beasts shot up out of nowhere. Also remember that the reef is 2-3 feet underheel, and a big wave dries the area it's about to hit. This wave was angry. I was unprepared. It kicked my booty. I did a backward somersault, and landed backfirst on the coral/rockface. I tried to gather myself, sitting on the reef, underwater. It didn't make sense. Everywhere I looked I saw waves. I'm glad my head didn't get smashed, nor did I choke for breath or anything dire like that. I did, however, manage to have the leash pulled straight from my foot, and rip open my fingers, ankle, back and some knee. Board gone, I pathetically avoided waves as well as I could. No such luck. When I finally did make it to the afterparty out in glorious past-breaker smooth-water splendor, I was pumped. Everyone was cool, Jordan said don't worry about the board, and we discussed the game plan for me heading in. I basically just started swimming. It's not like in Pensacola Beach where you paddle out in five minutes and can get pushed the 45 feet back to the soft sand. We paddled maybe a third mile to the island,
then past it and the waves. I was bleeding, bruised and exhausted. I had to swim the opposite way back, and halfway there I saw Jordan's board just kinda bobbing along. It was completely fine! This is amazing considering the huge waves that really should have pushed the board and me onto the jagged rocks of the island, but the board was in one piece! Dented a little, maybe. I slipped the crappy leash back on and headed for the nearest land without whitewash and sharp rock. I cannot describe how awesome it felt to be back on dry land. It was like there was an oasis with a waterfall and a huge hot rock to lie on. 
Oh wait that was a bit further down the beach back to the car. I'm getting ahead of myself. Heh. As I'm walking back, I saw that and passed out for a half hour. (Thereabouts, considering time is all goofy after surfing. It's kind of like when you can't smell underwater when you're SCUBA diving, then you get out and everything smells potent and wonderful.)
I woke up with the waterfall rushing next to me, showered off, said a little prayer to a couple of gods including the white one. (Joke, people, joke.) The whole way back I was stoked about the beautiful day, and then this fine mist edged over the entire panorama of landscape. Gorgeous. Unbelievable. Other surfers started showing up, and I used the mirror of the window to see my back, which was in a little pain. (It's funny, the more you tear your flesh, the less it hurts. I'm not saying go cut yourself, but totally go live.)The other surfers were laughing, but it's cool.
I had just had a religious experience, a life or death experience, and climbed a sweet rock wall with a surf board in hand. Not my intentions to let some jerks rain on my parade. Then I noticed, my butt was hurting too, as I got tossed like Hercules' salad against that island. There was a rip in my board shorts, right on my left butt cheek. I couldn't help but laugh too. Alex made it back first, then Brant and Jordan. I gathered some river rock for my dad's footpath and we packed up. Trading wave stories on the way back, Jordan said he saw just a foot at the top of the wave that thrashed me. Everyone thought I wasn't going to make it out, but I did. And it feels great even now,with the hydrogen peroxide on the battle wounds. Actually, I think I'm going to go longboard the sea wall after the picture posting. Okinawa is paradise.
No comments:
Post a Comment