Drowning
What was supposed to be a fun day at the beach turned out to be a horrific experience.
Nevermind the fact that Hurricane Bill just went over the waters and news are warning everyone about the 6ft waves and rip currents on the East Coast of Florida beaches, OR the red flags on the beach that we all failed to notice.
This has to be the most horrible feeling I have ever experienced. Jacquie, Mark, Shannon, Owen and I were all a bit deep in the water when we started feeling the water pull incredibly strong NE. We were laughing and playing around as we tried to swim back to the beach and not thinking much about it, until we realized that we were getting stuck in the very strong rip current and were not able to progress. At this point we all kinda realized that we were all at the mercy of the ocean. Everything happened so fast.
I have a heart condition that sometimes takes over my body when doing a lot of physical work, and it sort of freezes my arms and makes me unable to breathe right or move with much efficiency. Its this bad when I'm standing on solid ground. I couldn't ever imagine this condition hitting me while I was deep in the beach. It just so happens that I started feeling that way while we were getting pounded by 5ft waves, and unable to touch the ground under water.
It was also the first time in my life that I had a panic attack, and not being able to swim(my legs quickly became numb) really escalated things quickly. Before I knew it I was breathing water wave after wave and could not catch my breath, and started freaking out at my inability to swim out of it while being dragged back into the ocean. The strong waves were coming at us once every 5 seconds. They would not stop.
As I experienced this I could see all of us struggling like I was, and it was quickly getting worse. Jacquie had a tire floaty that I tried to grab on to twice but got separated from it, meanwhile Shannon is choking on water and unable to swim out as well while Owen tried to stay afloat and help Shannon stay afloat at the same time. Mark seeing that Shannon needed help as well, after trying to help me but unable to reach me, and making sure Jacquie was holding on to the floaty, gets stuck halfway between where me and Jacquie were, and Shannon and Owen were. At this point I was unable to breathe in air, and water just started going into my nose relentlessly with every wave that strongly hit us. I could not catch my breath, and the thought that my friends were all going through the same thing was terrifying and making it everything worse. Everyone was getting separated farther and farther from each other, and I was feeling like I was about to pass out, while hoping no one else was about to pass out as well.
It's pretty crazy the amount of thoughts that can run through your mind at a time like this. I had lost so much strenght that I couldn't stay above water anymore, and it was heartbreaking to hear Jacquie yelling for help from the top of her lungs while Shannon, Owen, Mark, and I were all choking on water, completely unable to get near each other. A feeling of separation started taking over me, and I noticed I had gone the farthest into the sea out of all of us, and with no one near me I thought that was it. Eventually a REALLY strong wave came and it somehow pushed us far enough ahead to touch ground, which at that very moment the current weakened enough to allow us to catch our breath and compose ourselves, and gather the strength to begin getting out of the sea.
This is something that is going to be forever burned into my mind, the feeling that I was seconds away from giving in, helpless, unable to help my friends that were all caught in the same situation. I got to a point where I thought we were all done for, we were all very far from each other, my body had given in already and I had absolutely NO strength left, and could no longer breathe. I honestly thought we were going to drown within a few seconds from that moment. What a horrendous feeling.
Sorry about my horrible writing on this post, to anyone who read it. My mind is totally screwed after what happened today. A thousand thoughts at 1,000mph.
I'm so thankful to God that we are all alive.
Nevermind the fact that Hurricane Bill just went over the waters and news are warning everyone about the 6ft waves and rip currents on the East Coast of Florida beaches, OR the red flags on the beach that we all failed to notice.
This has to be the most horrible feeling I have ever experienced. Jacquie, Mark, Shannon, Owen and I were all a bit deep in the water when we started feeling the water pull incredibly strong NE. We were laughing and playing around as we tried to swim back to the beach and not thinking much about it, until we realized that we were getting stuck in the very strong rip current and were not able to progress. At this point we all kinda realized that we were all at the mercy of the ocean. Everything happened so fast.
I have a heart condition that sometimes takes over my body when doing a lot of physical work, and it sort of freezes my arms and makes me unable to breathe right or move with much efficiency. Its this bad when I'm standing on solid ground. I couldn't ever imagine this condition hitting me while I was deep in the beach. It just so happens that I started feeling that way while we were getting pounded by 5ft waves, and unable to touch the ground under water.
It was also the first time in my life that I had a panic attack, and not being able to swim(my legs quickly became numb) really escalated things quickly. Before I knew it I was breathing water wave after wave and could not catch my breath, and started freaking out at my inability to swim out of it while being dragged back into the ocean. The strong waves were coming at us once every 5 seconds. They would not stop.
As I experienced this I could see all of us struggling like I was, and it was quickly getting worse. Jacquie had a tire floaty that I tried to grab on to twice but got separated from it, meanwhile Shannon is choking on water and unable to swim out as well while Owen tried to stay afloat and help Shannon stay afloat at the same time. Mark seeing that Shannon needed help as well, after trying to help me but unable to reach me, and making sure Jacquie was holding on to the floaty, gets stuck halfway between where me and Jacquie were, and Shannon and Owen were. At this point I was unable to breathe in air, and water just started going into my nose relentlessly with every wave that strongly hit us. I could not catch my breath, and the thought that my friends were all going through the same thing was terrifying and making it everything worse. Everyone was getting separated farther and farther from each other, and I was feeling like I was about to pass out, while hoping no one else was about to pass out as well.
It's pretty crazy the amount of thoughts that can run through your mind at a time like this. I had lost so much strenght that I couldn't stay above water anymore, and it was heartbreaking to hear Jacquie yelling for help from the top of her lungs while Shannon, Owen, Mark, and I were all choking on water, completely unable to get near each other. A feeling of separation started taking over me, and I noticed I had gone the farthest into the sea out of all of us, and with no one near me I thought that was it. Eventually a REALLY strong wave came and it somehow pushed us far enough ahead to touch ground, which at that very moment the current weakened enough to allow us to catch our breath and compose ourselves, and gather the strength to begin getting out of the sea.
This is something that is going to be forever burned into my mind, the feeling that I was seconds away from giving in, helpless, unable to help my friends that were all caught in the same situation. I got to a point where I thought we were all done for, we were all very far from each other, my body had given in already and I had absolutely NO strength left, and could no longer breathe. I honestly thought we were going to drown within a few seconds from that moment. What a horrendous feeling.
Sorry about my horrible writing on this post, to anyone who read it. My mind is totally screwed after what happened today. A thousand thoughts at 1,000mph.
I'm so thankful to God that we are all alive.