The beginning of change NYC to Guam
When I hit the ground from NYC on 2 January 09 after flying the kids back I entered my empty house and sat down and cried.
It was a very lonely place with out my tropical monkeys to keep me company.
I went to bed, woke up the next morning and sat back strategizing on how I could possibly get my entire house packed into 2 shipments to the U.A.E. and NYC and the yard sale stuff by the 15th of January.
Then the knock at my window came. I went out and it was my friend J.
He had been begging me to do this great ocean swim to a cave for as long as I could remember. Until now, I could never go at lunch because I only had a half hour. The kids (who are amazing swimmers & snorkelers) could not have made the swim.
I grabbed my tennis shoes and goggles, put on my bikini, jumped into J's island boonie beater truck and headed to a hidden beach.
The waters were very (understatement) rough. (I knew there was a tropical storm headed in..even on an average day this isn't something exactly most "normal" people would ever do) We threw caution to the wind, (calculated risk...he did the math, crazy submariner nuke nutter) and set out to swim past the reef into the place where you can not see the bottom (pretty creepy but beautiful) into the Philippine Sea. Out and around the tip of a tremendous rock to a place not many will ever see.
Behold the giant cave (GET THIS) WITH a rope swing in it. (Que Pirate music (Japanese Pirate Music...Nah...ok thats a stretch)) The trick to get to the swing was timing & climbing. There's also the small matter of the intake to small cave to the left. If you got caught in the wrong current you would get pulled into and stuck in the small cave getting smashed against the coral. (YoHoHo and a bottle of rum LOL good thing I don't drink rum)
J gave me explicit instructions on how to catch the current at the right time and my foot positioning once I got the spot in the cave to climb up.
Thank you J.
On a normal day I would have laughed at this as an easy challenge but still been cautious. Today the waves were enormous. It was fabulous, freaking surfing without a surf board.
The only time I think I ever remember such a strong current (until last recently, before another hurricane on another coast) was when I was a white water rafting guide in college...After rafting ended, we used have the guy who drove the truck drop our kayaks w/ boogie boards bungied on top downstream.
Walk down the trail, stand on the rail and jump off a bridge (trying not to get busted) into the river, ride the current to our kayaks get to the rapids, to take boogie boards and go into the rapids and surf and crash..until it was almost dusk. Then kayak the rest of the way back to the campground and sleep till the next day...Rinse, repeat...LOL At any rate....The cave...
J went in for the first go at the rock and I watched…He missed….He went in for another go when the lull came it.. He made it! RAWR Success!
So out of the safety of my floating in the open Philippine Sea I patiently waited for a lull and then went for it….getting bashed by waves and currents all the way…(I've been swimming, surfing, in the water my entire life, this was a challenge) I swam in, missed the pull into the small cave (whew) and made it to the face. Got my feet on the rock and went to pull up higher to climb onto the first ledge and a huge wave came in and pummeled me against the coral face.
I only cut my hands, elbow and knees in a couple of places so no big deal. But boy was I tired from the fight with the currents. I might be a "little touched" according to some, but not full blown stupid. So instead of going back in straight away, I swam back out into the open sea and rested for about 10 minutes.
I really love just hanging out looking at all the beauty and silence (well the roar of the surf but thats music to my ears) So I floated on my tummy and looked at fish (the beautiful fish...man do I miss that place) Thinking I am all alone in the sea...I spy the spear fishermen who appeared below my feet LOL!
One pops up next to me, and I say "Haifa"! How’s the fishing? It was really quite funny to have a conversation with a few guys with spears in the middle of the sea while I was hanging out with my tennis shoes on and bikini and goggles LOL….Neptune was watching out for me that day.
I waited for a lull in the waves (not much of a lull with the oncoming storm) and went at it full force. Gave it everything I had. Got into the flow, felt out the pull, drew down and kept out of the pull into the small cave and finally caught my feet on the rock. Another HUGE wave was coming in, I could feel it tugging at me, the pull out waiting for it to come in….I climbed faster than I have ever climbed the face of any rock in Utah, Idaho, California, Wyoming, Oregon, Washington... anywhere.
I made it up to the first ledge by the skin of my teeth, just before the wave hit. It was inching at me...teasing me...baiting me to draw me back into the sea. It actually came up to the first ledge and almost got me.
Thank you J for being so patient with me. J threw his arm down from the second ledge just in time to give me my three points of contact on the face to fend off the wave and use the leverage of the force to propel my body up instead of out. (Thank G_D for strong MAN arms)
So the waves were coming in harder, inching higher and higher. We kept climbing higher into this amazingly beautiful coral cave. Finally, at the top, I rested. Laying back taking all of it in. Soaking in the peacefulness. It was amazing. Looking at the washed up creatures in the pools of water.
J the manly adrenaline junkie wasted no time and just had to swing off the rope! So I was lucky to just hang and observe.
The rope swing was an entirely different challenge. I'm not afraid of heights, swinging, gravity or kerplunking into the open ocean. That is the fun part. Its the particular nature of the swing on this very blustery day that has me kerfluxed.
Instructions and observations after watching J's first swing: Keeping mental notes in my mind: HUGE jump to swing body way out, but at same arching lower back and rotating hips swinging legs at same time to position body weight to keep force ensuring you curve around to the left. WAY Important: If you want to miss the big *ss piece of coral on the right and then get pulled into the smaller cave.
Being pummeled with coral and low probability of getting your somewhat sane (minutely bleeding body) out of here alive and floating over to the Philipines during a tropical storm...wasn't on my agenda if I could help it.
So crazy man J goes up to the very top of the cave, flings his big ole manly dude body into the air and makes it. So amazing, breathtaking really.
I however am still resting. Realizing that after all of this....I have to have enough energy to swim all the way back to Tipalo beach where our towels are (like another hour swim at least in these waves LOL) (This of course is less than 12 hours after I got off of a 33 hour flight from NYC LOL)!
J climbs and swings 3 more times. The spear fisherman out in the distance are watching and I’m quite sure thinking we are lunatics. I get my energy back and am done looking at the beautiful blue starfish and small fish in the tidal pool and tell J I am ready to swing.
He once again patiently gives me instructions on how to swing out and around… I push my hardest off the rock and WWWOOOOOHOOOOOO what a blast! Hit the water and have my usual happy kid smile on!
We swim back through the strong currents to the beach slowly going down and holding our breath trying to be spear fishermen without spears LOL…enjoying the waves, the water, the sun, the fish and a great experience with a wonderful friend.
Thank you J, I am so happy we finally got to do that swim. Unfortunately due to my ear we weren't able to do it again before I left. But someday I hope we make that swim again. Perhaps not right before a humoungous storm (I think we should go kite surfing next to gov Guam building instead LOL). So many things left to see, taste and feel in this world....
So back to reality: we went back to my house and immediately both of my neighbor friends saw my arrival popped into my driveway carport, M and L giving me a firm but nice scolding telling me it was time to get down to business and off we all went into sort out my house….
