We started out enjoying some REALLY cold surf (seriously like 65 - 70 degrees). It was all fun and games, and we could all touch the sand just past the surf line. I was actually enjoying myself since we were past the breaker line where I wasn't being doused and tumbled every five seconds.
All of a sudden, I realized that I couldn't touch the sand anymore - and being the resident wimp, it was my job to decide when we came in, so, I chose that time, as I didn't like being in over my head. About that time, a surfer next to us shouted to us, "That's a rip current!" Needless to say, I freaked out, and started swimming as hard as I could toward shore - which is exactly what you are NOT supposed to do. My friend was telling me to swim toward her, as she and her husband were swimming to our left. I chose to follow my sister, in a diagonal fashion toward the right, and toward shore. Still, NOT what you should do. We were in the current itself for about 3 to 5 minutes, but made it out, shaken, but, fine.
For those of you who are wondering, this is how you identify a rip current:
• A channel of churning, choppy water;
• A line of sea foam, seaweed, or debris moving steadily seaward;
• Different colored water beyond the surf zone (check)
• A break in the incoming wave pattern as waves roll into shore (check)
* A sudden change in water depth (check)
And to escape a rip current, you swim parallel to the shore, as shown below:
On another totally unrelated, but WAY less scary note, we saw dolphins today! In fact, they were hanging out just off shore most of the day! We also saw pelicans and crabs. It was awesomely cool!
Videos coming soon.
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