Sunday, August 17, 2008

Adventure Swim

Dave Horn arrived last night. He has come to spend the week with me while Deneen and the boys are away. I did not want his first day to be all cleaning the house, so after attending church we went up to the light house to check out the beaches there. The light house is at the northern tip of Grand Turk. Deneen would refer to this area as having "unsafe conditions." I call it adventure swimming.

Anyway, I thought I should let Dave tell the story since it is his first day.

Here is Dave's blog:

"See that point? Just on the other side is a really cool beach. That's where we're going." That's not so far, I thought. I figured that once we trudged through the water to the beach that we'd spend an hour or so snorkeling, lie around on the beach, and come back. I should have known better.

As it turns out, we did swim for about an hour, looking at coral, sea urchins, fish of various types, and more. I turned to look and was surprised to see Neal swimming toward the beach. I thought to myself, "That was nothing. All I hear about is how much he swims and how Deneen thinks he is stupid for taking risks in the water. Here we are, already finished."

I rinsed my feet off, put the snorkel and fins back in the bag, and as I prepared to enjoy a few minutes on the beach, I hear a voice saying, "See that point? Just on the other side is Smuggler's Cove. I've been there once, and I'd like to see it again. Let's go."

We swam, we walked, and I tried to keep our only towel dry on the way to what Neal thought was Smuggler's Cove. The towel, as it would turn out, was nothing more than a wet hindrance, on the way to another point near which a couple guys were fishing.

We talked to them briefly, tried to climb and walk around what should have been the last point. It quickly became apparent that our walking path would end and that if Smuggler's Cove was around the third point that we'd have to get back into the water.

I haven't yet mentioned that there are many shipwrecks around the North Point of Grand Turk due to the way the water moves in and around two reefs. The water comes in quickly, is a strange mix of icey cold and sun-warmed, moves out in unpredictable ways, and is a little bit rough. But hey, Smuggler's Cove was just on the other side, right?

This time, Neal was correct. Smuggler's Cove was around the corner, but after swimming for an hour, it was still almost half a mile away. After dodging waves and sharp coral to get this far, I wasn't about to turn back, but I was still dragging a fin bag full of wet towel, Keen sandals, and sunscreen. I was tired.

Along the way around the last point we passed a local man fishing. As I swam, I wondered about what he thought of us. 30 minutes later, as the water become too shallow to swim, I looked over at Neal and said, "I'm walking the rest of the way. I'm tired."

Neal looks back to me and says, "How cool is that? We swam around the North Point of Grand Turk and kicked its ass." I laughed. "You remember that local guy back there? I guarantee you that he thought we were insane. Local people don't swim the North Point, and that's one of those swims that Deneen thinks is stupid."

Along the way, we saw an underwater military junkyard in addition to fairly typical sea life. The North Point was a submarine refueling and observation station for the US Navy. Today, it's abandoned and it's apparent that when the Navy left, that equipment was "buried at sea" (pushed off the dock and sunk where very few would ever see it). We did.

I don't know whether we "kicked" anything or not, but I was pretty spent by the time we got to Smuggler's Cove. I was happy to walk back to the truck (as opposed to swim), and if Neal would have really known where to go, it would have been much easier to walk to Smuggler's Cove, but then we wouldn't have a story to tell to make our mothers, sisters, and Deneen think that we're stupid.

I guarantee you that probably tomorrow I'll hear "See that point? Just on the other side is..." and whatever it is won't be anywhere close to wherever we are.

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