Just got back from a week long vacation on Hilton Head Island. Rather than a day by day run-down of the trip, I thought a topical overview would be more interesting. So, the Ocean.
I swam 10 miles over the course of the week. 2 miles per day, usually one in the morning and one in the afternoon, though the last 2 days had me going twice in the morning so I would have the afternoons free. The ocean wasn’t very rough and the currents weren’t as strong as I expected. It was actually a little boring at times. I know I can do a mile in about 40 minutes in the pool, so I timed my ocean trips and decided that if I swam 45 minutes, that would be about a mile’s worth of effort.
I did have to take a break in the middle for a day since I was attacked by a Kraken. And by “Kraken” I mean a shell that I tried to pick up off the floor of the ocean with my feet. And by “attacked”, I mean that the sharp edge of the shell cut my left big toe. Enough that I was bleeding by the time I got back up to the beach. I poured water over it to get most of the sand out and then put on flip flops to hobble back to the condo. I got it cleaned up, slathered on the neosporin, and slapped a band-aid on it. It still seeped for a couple days, but the waterproof band-aids I got did their job and I was back in the ocean.
Along with the “mystery shell of death” aka “RELEASE THE KRAKEN!”, I found a lot of sand dollars (living), a bunch of small empty shells, and several broken horseshoe crab shells. I saw some dolphins in the water on the way across the bridge to the island, a couple jumping fish, was nearly dive-bombed by some pelicans, and – on the last day – a jelly-fish. Sharks don’t really worry me much – the odds are against an attack – and I know how to handle rip tides. But a jelly-fish? I don’t mess around with those.
Another danger of the deep – well, the shallows – were a couple of asshole surf-casters. Despite the clearly posted signs at the entrance to the beach prohibiting fishing from the shore since it was a swimming beach, there were a couple guys out on different days doing just that. I yelled at one of them as I swam past that it was dangerous for him to be fishing while there were swimmers in the water. He yelled back that I was far enough out that it wouldn’t matter.
That, of course, is not the damn point. I was pretty steamed, but since I couldn’t find a lifeguard and I was done with my swim for the day I didn’t confront him further. Still. The shell was pretty bad, but I can’t imagine how much it would suck to get hooked.
The ocean part of my trip ended peacefully though. Took a couple of late night walks on the beach and enjoyed the sound of the waves, the stars overhead and cool breeze. Too bad I couldn’t take that with me – though the sunshine during the day did give me an excellent tan that will last a while as I go back to work in my windowless office.