Gosh, I love to travel! I just love being on a plane, going nowhere slowly. Am I the only who feels plane sleep is the best? I remember the first time I headed to San Juan, Puerto Rico; I stayed up the night before with my friends. We were all excited for our four day trip to Puerto Rico and spent the whole night before the trip hanging out and talking. Our flight was scheduled to leave at 6 am the next day.
As soon as I got on the plane, I knocked out. I was snoring (oops) I was so exhausted due to lack of sleep from the previous night. When we landed in Houston after the first leg of the trip, the guy who sat next to my friend said (referring to me) "she must be pretty exhausted huh." Falling asleep on a plane is one of my favorite things to do. (You can tell I love sleep).
On the flight with my friends to San Juan
Fast forward four years, I found myself on another trip to San Juan, this time for a friend’s bachelorette. I got all my cute outfits together, swimsuits, sun shades and was ready to take Puerto Rico by storm. We stayed at the gorgeous La Concha Resort; they had good food and a lovely pool area. The resort is right on the beach, so there was always something to do around the resort. We went salsa dancing, enjoyed each other’s company and tried out different things.
One of the days we went jet skiing, and another day we decided to go on a banana boat tour. Now, this is where things get interesting. I am in love with water and water sports. I love going to water theme parks, and I usually hype everyone up like let's do this let's do that while harboring some fear within me about the possible danger we are about to embark on. Maybe it has to do with the fact that I am no Michael Phelps and can drown, but that doesn't stop me anyway. On this fateful day, we decided to explore this banana boat tour. It cost about $20 per person which was pretty affordable that 5 of us agreed to do it. One person changed her mind last minute, and someone else joined in.
They gave us our life jackets and started with the safety talk, you know like the ones they lecture you on, while on the plane that no one listens to, and I’m probably already asleep at the time, and it's just annoying (I know it's essential) so I don't pay attention. The instructor went through all that talk, and I'm like just get it over with, let's get on this boat and move. God will protect us (typical Nigerian girl lol). They hook up this inflatable boat which is in the shape of a banana to a speedboat, and all the lifeguards and tour guides are on the speedboat.
The banana boat can carry just ten people at a time, so 4 of my friends and I were seated on one side of the boat with handles separating us from each other, while 5 American girls were on the other part of the boat. We started moving, and it felt good, with all the adrenaline rush, one of my friends screamed faster, faster! Honestly, that was the last thing I remembered before we took a huge turn and all the Africans plunged into the ocean. Because we ignored the instructor when he said: "if we take a turn in your direction, move in the opposite direction of the turn, so you don't fall off the boat."
All of us knew we couldn't swim but still managed to sit on the same side of the boat. It would have been smart for us to mix with the other girls so we could get a right balance. (I wonder why we didn't think of that at the moment) anyway, we did the opposite to what the instructor said, and found ourselves at the bottom of the ocean, well let me not exaggerate but we were well immersed in that ocean.
I was freaking out, I held on to one of my friends who was smaller than me, and in the process kept dragging her down (sorry friend). Whenever we managed to come above the water, she shouted leave me! leave me! I was so scared that I held on to her for dear life. One of the American’s jumped into the ocean to come help us out, and then the guards eventually jumped in as well to rescue us, because we were screaming we can't swim, help! I realized later on, that "wait oh, Evi you could have swam" I had even forgotten about the little swimming skills I possessed in that scary moment.
We also had life jackets on, and never thought just to relax. But the fear was real. After we got rescued, we got on the speedboat this time around and said please, "take us back to the shore." Poor American girls, we messed up their tour. No one was smiling after we got back; the other girls who didn't go on the trip had a field day making fun of us. Hey at least we went, we tried something different and almost drowned in the process (Don't think that's a good thing). Note to self, as long as you have a life jacket on, don’t panic. Just relax and you will float.
After that experience which is now about 4 years ago, I vouched to go brush up my swimming skills. I love water and water sports so much, that I am not willing to give it up for anything. Sad to admit that my swimming is still mediocre, but I am up for free lessons if anyone is offering one. Now when I think back on what happened in San Juan, I just laugh. It was such a scary, crazy and fun experience.
What crazy vacation experience have you had? Share them with me below and don’t forget to subscribe, have a blessed week.