All Washed Up

As I stood knee-deep in the Ghanaian ocean, waves aggressively slapping against my body, Shawna flailing helplessly by my side and the figures of Sung, Michael, and Patrick vaguely recognizable struggling in the surf, I smiled and thought fondly to myself: “This is one of those moments I’m going to remember for a long, long time.”

Then I was knocked off my feet by a wave of substantial proportions and got a mouthful, and swimsuit full, of sand as I was carried off in to the ocean.

And so it went for several more hours, all of us laughing and panicking and having a grand old time as we were tossed about in probably un-swimmable conditions on the beach in front of our Cape Coast hotel, the infamous Coconut Grove. Before anyone starts to worry, we are all fine. All 14 students plus the 5 adults went into the water and all 19 of us came out alive that day. This was because we had previously talked to the lifeguard before galloping haphazardly into the unknown, and he gave us some words of wisdom: “Stay away from those rocks over there.” And away we stayed… Then Shawna tried to swim parallel to the beach and didn’t go anywhere and we realized there was an undertow heading straight for “those rocks over there.”

Besides the imminent danger it was honestly one of the funnest times we’ve had so far. The water was the temperature of tepid bathwater and was free from the trash we had seen in the ocean outside of Accra. The waves were strong but were perfect for body surfing, unless we encountered one that looked too precocious, at which time we swiftly held our breaths and ducked under it. (I found that the 5 Ds of dodgeball were also highly applicable to swimming in Ghanaian waters: Dodge, duck, dip, dive and dodge.)

I am particularly fond of a specific memory from the day.  Shawna and I were talking as we were recovering from a particularly rough set. I was slightly downhill from and closer to the ocean than her. We were conversing and laughing, as friends oft do, when an extra-foreboding-looking wave snuck up behind me and sent me careening through the air, screaming, headfirst into Shawna, who caught me in her open arms with a panicked look on her face. After a split second she realized I was fine and burst into laughter as I lay there in the sand, gasping for air, trying to laugh with her. … Some friend. But it’s funny looking back on it.

Our professor, Leslie, was also knocked to her feet rather violently right after she came down to join the fun in her sporty little blue one-piece and proclaimed: “I wonder how long I can stay on my feet! Ha ha!”

However the absolute worst and funniest part about our experience was trying to run back up the beach and away from the waves after getting out of the water. You would know what I mean if you have ever tried to run uphill, in wet sand, gasping for air, as waves are pulling you back out, and after you have been struggling in tough surf and an undertow for 5-10 minutes. Every single time I made it back out alive I would drop down to the sand, catch my breath, then turn and look back at the scene unfolding around me. It was an incredible feeling to simply appreciate where I was, what I was doing, and whom I was with at that very moment in time.

Beautiful surroundings, incredible country, perfect day, awesome company.

-Megan