A few minutes before I entered the world's largest washing machine
Looking at my past posts, I haven’t written much about what I’ve done outside of work for a while. Well, I got a story from this morning. I’ve always wanted to learn to surf. Being an East Coast guy I haven’t been presented with many opportunities and hoped I would get the opportunity to catch some waves here in Pohnpei. As the old phrase goes, be careful what you wish for.
Pohnpei has a world-famous surfing spot known as Palikir Pass. It doesn’t produce the biggest waves in the world but is renowned for creating perfect barrels. That said, the waves can still get pretty big! I first went surfing a few weeks ago. As I have never even seen surfing up close I stayed on the outside at the beginning and watched how it was done. When I finally thought I’d give it a shot there were many surfers in the water and I didn’t want to take the waves of people who had traveled thousands of miles to surf here. I got hit by a decent size wave and tumbled through the water once, but it wasn’t too bad. Then today happened.
We got there around 7:30 and I knew from the last time I wanted to be aggressive and try to catch a wave early before more surfers came. I almost caught one but backed up when I realized it was too big. I had an inkling I was in “over my head” (pardon the pun) but I didn’t want to call it a day after only a few minutes. The waves were much bigger than my first surfing experience. It was at this point I saw that I was too shallow and was right in the place where most of the waves break. A set was coming any minute so I started to paddle out of there. It was then I saw Ben, a MAHI volunteer who is working as a doctor in the State Hospital, wave me over to the inside. Uh-oh: a set was coming. I only got a few feet before I saw Ben drop in on this MONSTER wave. I froze. I didn’t want to get in his way. By that point it was too late anyways.
There I was, a huge wall of water, at least 10 feet high, about to break right on me. When I think 10 feet high, I think of a basketball hoop. That’s not that high, right? Well I realized later on that in surfing you’re on the “ground.” Next time you’re next to a basketball hoop, lie on the ground and picture a wall of water as high as the top of the backboard about to crash down on you! At this point, any thoughts of the beauty of being in the barrel were quickly overwhelmed by an all-consuming sense of fear. I don’t think there’s a human being in the world who wouldn’t be scared in that moment!
Before I knew it I was in the world’s largest washing machine being tossed around like a rag doll. It was at this point I remembered John telling me a story of him getting crushed after dropping in on a monster wave and getting a quick breath of air before being pummeled again. I got a quick breath of air, along with some salt water, before getting swept away by another massive wall of white water. This is when it got a little scary. For those who don’t know, you wear a leash on your ankle which is attached to the back of the board, so you don’t lose your board in situations like this. Despite getting some air before the second wave, I was out of breath and still under water. Then the leash got tangled around my neck. My board was being pulled along with the wave just like me. I don’t know how, but by the grace of God I got some super human strength and managed to pull the leash off my neck.
The ocean showed no mercy. I got another quick breath, along with some more salt water, before being consumed again. At this point I felt like a dead fish. I was completely out of breath, energy and adrenaline. Some scary thoughts entered my mind of potential consequences if this barrage didn’t end soon. After the third sweeping I felt some coral on my feet. This was a relief but a bit concerning at the same time. I knew that any severe consequences, i.e. drowning, were unlikely as I could stand on the reef, but at the same time I knew the coral was likely to inflict some damage. Two more walls of whitewater came and my legs and feet got cut up pretty bad, but that was the least of my concerns. I was just happy to finally be out of the worst of it.
Getting pummeled by waves is nothing new to surfing, especially to rookies. My friend Kohei came to see how I was doing and could see the fear in my eyes. The whole leash strangling deal was a bit alarming. Apparently it doesn’t happen very often and my concern was warranted. The currents were pretty strong and Kohei helped navigate me back to the boat. Later on Kohei somehow convinced me to get back in the water, though this time I went without a surfboard and with fins. I wanted to get some close up pictures with my waterproof camera, which you can see below, along with a video! FYI, the wave in the video is about half the size of the wave that crushed me, to give you some perspective.
I would just like to say that this obviously wasn’t my brightest moment! Sometimes you don't know what you're getting into until it's too late. I still want to learn to surf, but what I did today was skip the bunny hill to try double black diamond. Live and learn.
We’re still in the thick of it in our education program. The work is difficult and tedious but worthwhile. I’m excited this week that I will be starting a new internship at the College of Micronesia! More information on that to come!
Pohnpei has a world-famous surfing spot known as Palikir Pass. It doesn’t produce the biggest waves in the world but is renowned for creating perfect barrels. That said, the waves can still get pretty big! I first went surfing a few weeks ago. As I have never even seen surfing up close I stayed on the outside at the beginning and watched how it was done. When I finally thought I’d give it a shot there were many surfers in the water and I didn’t want to take the waves of people who had traveled thousands of miles to surf here. I got hit by a decent size wave and tumbled through the water once, but it wasn’t too bad. Then today happened.
We got there around 7:30 and I knew from the last time I wanted to be aggressive and try to catch a wave early before more surfers came. I almost caught one but backed up when I realized it was too big. I had an inkling I was in “over my head” (pardon the pun) but I didn’t want to call it a day after only a few minutes. The waves were much bigger than my first surfing experience. It was at this point I saw that I was too shallow and was right in the place where most of the waves break. A set was coming any minute so I started to paddle out of there. It was then I saw Ben, a MAHI volunteer who is working as a doctor in the State Hospital, wave me over to the inside. Uh-oh: a set was coming. I only got a few feet before I saw Ben drop in on this MONSTER wave. I froze. I didn’t want to get in his way. By that point it was too late anyways.
There I was, a huge wall of water, at least 10 feet high, about to break right on me. When I think 10 feet high, I think of a basketball hoop. That’s not that high, right? Well I realized later on that in surfing you’re on the “ground.” Next time you’re next to a basketball hoop, lie on the ground and picture a wall of water as high as the top of the backboard about to crash down on you! At this point, any thoughts of the beauty of being in the barrel were quickly overwhelmed by an all-consuming sense of fear. I don’t think there’s a human being in the world who wouldn’t be scared in that moment!
Before I knew it I was in the world’s largest washing machine being tossed around like a rag doll. It was at this point I remembered John telling me a story of him getting crushed after dropping in on a monster wave and getting a quick breath of air before being pummeled again. I got a quick breath of air, along with some salt water, before getting swept away by another massive wall of white water. This is when it got a little scary. For those who don’t know, you wear a leash on your ankle which is attached to the back of the board, so you don’t lose your board in situations like this. Despite getting some air before the second wave, I was out of breath and still under water. Then the leash got tangled around my neck. My board was being pulled along with the wave just like me. I don’t know how, but by the grace of God I got some super human strength and managed to pull the leash off my neck.
The ocean showed no mercy. I got another quick breath, along with some more salt water, before being consumed again. At this point I felt like a dead fish. I was completely out of breath, energy and adrenaline. Some scary thoughts entered my mind of potential consequences if this barrage didn’t end soon. After the third sweeping I felt some coral on my feet. This was a relief but a bit concerning at the same time. I knew that any severe consequences, i.e. drowning, were unlikely as I could stand on the reef, but at the same time I knew the coral was likely to inflict some damage. Two more walls of whitewater came and my legs and feet got cut up pretty bad, but that was the least of my concerns. I was just happy to finally be out of the worst of it.
Getting pummeled by waves is nothing new to surfing, especially to rookies. My friend Kohei came to see how I was doing and could see the fear in my eyes. The whole leash strangling deal was a bit alarming. Apparently it doesn’t happen very often and my concern was warranted. The currents were pretty strong and Kohei helped navigate me back to the boat. Later on Kohei somehow convinced me to get back in the water, though this time I went without a surfboard and with fins. I wanted to get some close up pictures with my waterproof camera, which you can see below, along with a video! FYI, the wave in the video is about half the size of the wave that crushed me, to give you some perspective.
I would just like to say that this obviously wasn’t my brightest moment! Sometimes you don't know what you're getting into until it's too late. I still want to learn to surf, but what I did today was skip the bunny hill to try double black diamond. Live and learn.
We’re still in the thick of it in our education program. The work is difficult and tedious but worthwhile. I’m excited this week that I will be starting a new internship at the College of Micronesia! More information on that to come!
A little blurry, but it's not exactly ideal conditions to take pictures!
