I just got back from a visit to Puerto Rico. I've passed through before, but this was my first real stay. Absolutely beautiful and the people are as friendly and proud of their home as anywhere I've been.
I was there with my wife of almost 35 years, my son, and my daughter with her boyfriend. My son had to stay behind to do some work while the rest of us went to Seven Seas Beach to see how the snorkeling was.
We went down a long trail filled with lizards and fiddler crabs and birds like grebes and little herons until we came to Playa Escondida.
The surf was up making the water too murky to see for snorkeling so we just settled under a half knocked over sign at the end of the trail and waded in. My wife and daughter wasted no time getting wet and I followed, after settling our gear, while my daughter's boyfriend hung out on the beach. There wasn't much going on while my wife and daughter floated in the surf talking to each other, so I swam back to shore. There were rocks to the right and I thought I saw a calm spot that could provide some snorkeling. The swim back turned out to be hard going and it took a while to make it. I realized my wife and daughter were caught in a rip tide, but they hadn't noticed. I thought, they're going to be surprised when they have to really work to get back to shore. I caught their eye and pointed to a spot down the beach, that looked like the current was carrying them in the direction of, as a suggestion that it would be easier swimming out that way. There are a lot of rocks but this spot was in a gap that looked like it was easier to navigate.
They couldn't understand what I was saying and started swimming back to our spot on the beach. I walked back, around the barrier of rocks, and swam out to instruct them on where to swim to. Farther out, the surf was breaking on a shoal that turned out to be rocks and not a sandbar. The rip tide was carrying them towards the biggest breakers and that whole rocky end of the cove to the Northeast.
When I got to them, they were panicked and said they couldn't make it back. I told them they were fine and we would get out. I reminded them that they were both good strong swimmers and while it was hard swimming we weren't in danger of sinking.
Both my wife and my daughter are heavy women and they always gloat at me how they float higher than I do, head and shoulders fully out of the water, while I float at eyebrow level. I tried to use that to calm them.
Once out in the water with them, I could see it was not the best plan to swim the way I was hoping to direct them to. Too many rocks between and a secondary line of breaking surf. They were trying to swim directly against the current and I had to force them to turn down the beach instead of making straight for it. I suggested they keep their bodies as near the surface as possible to avoid the stronger under current and use the incoming waves to surf into shore on. My daughter, who had taken swimming lessons with the local swim team as a child had excellent technique and managed to get a little closer to shore, but was in danger of losing ground. She and I got separated from my wife so I told her she had this and to keep swimming in. I went back to get my wife. I caught up to Linda, my wife, and told her we couldn't swim straight for the beach, we had to swim farther up the beach to try and get out of the current. We both yelled for our daughter to turn up the beach too. She had returned to swimming straight in.
Our daughter, thankfully, followed our instructions and turned to the right where she eventually found a rock to stand up on. I wear glasses and had taken them off and stuffed them into a velcro pocket of my surf shorts, so I couldn't see her very well. Linda had to keep telling me where our daughter was. I could catch glimpses of the waves lifted just right.
I also had taken the underwater camera from my wife and tied it to the waist string of my shorts so she could have her hands free. We continued to swim and found ourselves constantly turning towards the beach instead of committing to swimming up the beach. We both grew tired and would slow until the breaking waves grew too close, then we renewed our efforts. Linda was feeling very defeated. Once I was satisfied our daughter was, at least temporarily, safe, I had my wife grab my t-shirt while I concentrated on swimming in the direction I believed was correct. It was hard going and I was getting very tired. I'd just stop and lay on my back to catch my breath until a wave washed over us and I had to lift up and spit and breath.
My foot hit a rock and I tried to stand on it, but the waves lifted me off. I caught the rock again and stood on my toes for just a moment. It was such a relief, even for the second or so it lasted. I began giving up myself. I told my wife I was too tired to keep this up. Maybe we should go with the flow and get out over on the rocky shore instead? I also suggested swim out past the breakers. I just wanted to stop and lay back and catch my breath at that point.
"No way." She said, "We can do this."
Finally, swimming on my back, my wife hanging onto the front of my shirt, I got a rock with my foot that we didn't get washed off of because there was another one and it was shallow enough to give me footing to stand against the out-rushing water. I lost my footing again but recovered quickly. We both managed to stand, learning at about a 30 degrees angle to the ground while the water pulled around us. We made another few steps and then another until we kept our feet and my wife waved an 'ok' signal toward the beach.
My daughter had made it to shore and Linda had told me she went up the beach in search of help. Her boyfriend had no idea what was happening and when she had waved to him from her rocky perch in the surf, he'd simply waved back and smiled. They'd managed to meet in the middle where it was only knee deep. Her boyfriend, when Linda waved her 'ok', caught my daughter just before she hit the call button on her phone for the coast guard.
We were in the water for nearly 2 hours. It was just after 12:30 when we got to the beach and it was 2:28 when we made it out of the water. For the first time, we looked up at the sign we'd parked under and it said, in Spanish, "no swimming, dangerous rip tide."
-Will (Dragonfly)
I was there with my wife of almost 35 years, my son, and my daughter with her boyfriend. My son had to stay behind to do some work while the rest of us went to Seven Seas Beach to see how the snorkeling was.
We went down a long trail filled with lizards and fiddler crabs and birds like grebes and little herons until we came to Playa Escondida.
The surf was up making the water too murky to see for snorkeling so we just settled under a half knocked over sign at the end of the trail and waded in. My wife and daughter wasted no time getting wet and I followed, after settling our gear, while my daughter's boyfriend hung out on the beach. There wasn't much going on while my wife and daughter floated in the surf talking to each other, so I swam back to shore. There were rocks to the right and I thought I saw a calm spot that could provide some snorkeling. The swim back turned out to be hard going and it took a while to make it. I realized my wife and daughter were caught in a rip tide, but they hadn't noticed. I thought, they're going to be surprised when they have to really work to get back to shore. I caught their eye and pointed to a spot down the beach, that looked like the current was carrying them in the direction of, as a suggestion that it would be easier swimming out that way. There are a lot of rocks but this spot was in a gap that looked like it was easier to navigate.
They couldn't understand what I was saying and started swimming back to our spot on the beach. I walked back, around the barrier of rocks, and swam out to instruct them on where to swim to. Farther out, the surf was breaking on a shoal that turned out to be rocks and not a sandbar. The rip tide was carrying them towards the biggest breakers and that whole rocky end of the cove to the Northeast.
When I got to them, they were panicked and said they couldn't make it back. I told them they were fine and we would get out. I reminded them that they were both good strong swimmers and while it was hard swimming we weren't in danger of sinking.
Both my wife and my daughter are heavy women and they always gloat at me how they float higher than I do, head and shoulders fully out of the water, while I float at eyebrow level. I tried to use that to calm them.
Once out in the water with them, I could see it was not the best plan to swim the way I was hoping to direct them to. Too many rocks between and a secondary line of breaking surf. They were trying to swim directly against the current and I had to force them to turn down the beach instead of making straight for it. I suggested they keep their bodies as near the surface as possible to avoid the stronger under current and use the incoming waves to surf into shore on. My daughter, who had taken swimming lessons with the local swim team as a child had excellent technique and managed to get a little closer to shore, but was in danger of losing ground. She and I got separated from my wife so I told her she had this and to keep swimming in. I went back to get my wife. I caught up to Linda, my wife, and told her we couldn't swim straight for the beach, we had to swim farther up the beach to try and get out of the current. We both yelled for our daughter to turn up the beach too. She had returned to swimming straight in.
Our daughter, thankfully, followed our instructions and turned to the right where she eventually found a rock to stand up on. I wear glasses and had taken them off and stuffed them into a velcro pocket of my surf shorts, so I couldn't see her very well. Linda had to keep telling me where our daughter was. I could catch glimpses of the waves lifted just right.
I also had taken the underwater camera from my wife and tied it to the waist string of my shorts so she could have her hands free. We continued to swim and found ourselves constantly turning towards the beach instead of committing to swimming up the beach. We both grew tired and would slow until the breaking waves grew too close, then we renewed our efforts. Linda was feeling very defeated. Once I was satisfied our daughter was, at least temporarily, safe, I had my wife grab my t-shirt while I concentrated on swimming in the direction I believed was correct. It was hard going and I was getting very tired. I'd just stop and lay on my back to catch my breath until a wave washed over us and I had to lift up and spit and breath.
My foot hit a rock and I tried to stand on it, but the waves lifted me off. I caught the rock again and stood on my toes for just a moment. It was such a relief, even for the second or so it lasted. I began giving up myself. I told my wife I was too tired to keep this up. Maybe we should go with the flow and get out over on the rocky shore instead? I also suggested swim out past the breakers. I just wanted to stop and lay back and catch my breath at that point.
"No way." She said, "We can do this."
Finally, swimming on my back, my wife hanging onto the front of my shirt, I got a rock with my foot that we didn't get washed off of because there was another one and it was shallow enough to give me footing to stand against the out-rushing water. I lost my footing again but recovered quickly. We both managed to stand, learning at about a 30 degrees angle to the ground while the water pulled around us. We made another few steps and then another until we kept our feet and my wife waved an 'ok' signal toward the beach.
My daughter had made it to shore and Linda had told me she went up the beach in search of help. Her boyfriend had no idea what was happening and when she had waved to him from her rocky perch in the surf, he'd simply waved back and smiled. They'd managed to meet in the middle where it was only knee deep. Her boyfriend, when Linda waved her 'ok', caught my daughter just before she hit the call button on her phone for the coast guard.
We were in the water for nearly 2 hours. It was just after 12:30 when we got to the beach and it was 2:28 when we made it out of the water. For the first time, we looked up at the sign we'd parked under and it said, in Spanish, "no swimming, dangerous rip tide."
-Will (Dragonfly)
