No Love from Mother Ocean

I love the ocean. Every day here in Hawaii I have the opportunity to see it, be around it, and be in it. It is always the sign of good things to come when I am lucky enough to watch the wispy clouds move along the trade winds as the rising sun slowly transforms the entire sky from blackness into a deep blue to a gentle purple. Then in a matter of minutes everything changes to pink and orange just before the sun appears over the edge of the ocean and turns the clouds into a brilliant white.

In the evening, swimming in Kailua Bay, it is the same procession, only in reverse. The clouds, now full of moisture, rise so high that a single cloud may be three different colors. The top catching the last of the setting sun while the base is already a dark shade of gray. Depending on the wind, the ocean can look like a vast liquid mirror or like countless shards of glass reflecting all colors in all directions.

Every day I am left in awe of the ocean. It's days like today that I realize the Ocean's feelings towards me may not be mutual. I get hurt a lot when I'm in the water. The only somewhat major mishap was the whole neck/back injury, but it seems that every time I am out there something happens to me.

Three weeks ago we went sailing. There were six of us on board and in the seven hours we were out there, every single person ended up giving up some blood. The worst was Tabitha. She caught the boom right at the start of her hairline. The blood poured over her face as if someone poured it out of a glass. No worries, we had a doctor on board... it just so happened to be her. Self aid!

Two weeks ago we were sailing once again. More blood, bruises and stepping on sharp things. I probably had it the worst. When I was climbing on board my foot slipped and caught some of the disgusting growth on the side of the boat. I didn't notice that I was even cut until I saw the pool of blood and seawater gathering at my feet. Barnacles are sharp as razors, no joke. Hopefully my new ladder will help us avoid that in the future.

Last week I decided to admire the ocean from afar. I walked to the old pill boxes just above Lanikai. It made for some great sitting and watching and no blood was involved.

Today Derek and I took his new inflatable kayak into Kailua Bay. Lately it has been very windy (from the hurricane that hit the Philippines and Thailand?) and the waves were big for Kailua Bay. We have also been having cold weather. Of course, it sounds a little ridiculous to call 78 degrees cold, but once you are used to perfect weather, anything below 75 requires a sweatshirt. Any lower than 70 and you are looking at a sweatshirt and long pants. At any rate, we were thinking it may be too cold to go out, but we decided that since we spent all the time inflating the kayak and portaging it to the beach, we may as well use it.

The waves were fun. We got bounced and thrown in a variety of ways. Sometimes the wave would throw you in one direction and end up taking the kayak in another. Other times you would get so jumbled that you wouldn't know which way was up until you spread your extremities in all directions searching for sand or air. We did end up getting into deeper water by dragging the kayak past the shore break and only jumping in after we were in the rollers, not the breakers.

Once in the deeper water we paddled towards Flat Island for about 30 minutes, but weren't doing much besides fighting the waves. We stopped paddling and just floated for a while. I hung my legs and arms over the side. Usually I wouldn't do that. It's hard for me to shake the idea that a shark could come out of no where and take off a limb. It is extremely rare, but it does happen. In hindsight, I should have been more afraid of the Portuguese Man-O-War (which I just found out get blown into the bays when there is a lot of heavy wind).

As we for floating along I started yelling out obscenities for no apparent reason. Once my body caught up with my mouth I realized I had a mass of blue string wrapped around my left ankle. I grabbed the paddle and pushed it off, but it had long tentacles and they continued to drag along my leg for a bit. It felt like a bee sting. We paddled for home and got tossed a couple of more times on the way.

I got back to my apartment and as my leg dried it became more painful. I'm not sure if it was my imagination or not, but the pain seemed to be spreading all the way up my leg and into my abdomen and I started feeling slightly nauseous. I put some vinegar on it (and then drank some for good measure), but it didn't help. According to Claus, my scuba instructor from when I was in Thailand, all poisons originating from ocean plants and animals are destroyed by heat. I took a wicked hot shower and an hour later, I feel fine.

In the end I still argue that my relationship with the ocean is a very healthy and non-abusive one. The only reason Ocean hurts me is because she loves me so much.