The Hazards of Listening to Life’s Hurdles
A day of sea kayaking Little Tybee Island
I woke feeling sad from all the heavy rain that was still falling from the previous night. The plan had been an adventure, an excursion to circumnavigate Little Tybee Island, an uninhabited barrier island off the coast of Georgia. The adventure would include paddling the rivers, creeks, surf, ocean, walking on the beach, spending the day outside with my lover, creating life memories. All now, seemingly washed away by the heavy wrath of relentless storms that pounded the coast.
Negative thoughts continued to fill my skull while driving to the boat landing as raindrops splatter on my windshield. Conversations in my mind circled of how this wasn’t going to happen, would we get our money returned, surely the trip can’t happen now based on this damn act of god. The rain did stop as we got the boat landing, but heavy moist clouds kept the skies ominously grey.
Our guide was already there standing on the beach with boats staged for the trip. He was a young fella, ex-Army Ranger medic, who cheerfully met us with the news that we’ll push on with the chance of rain, hopefully lessoning for the four-hour excursion. “Hopefully, pffsss,” I thought to myself as I looked up at the skies. We shoved off the wet sandy beach at the end of the boat landing known as Ally 3, with every negative emotional anchor still gripping my soul with each paddle stroke.
The river was calm. An eagle perched high among the island trees in a marsh hammock watched as we paddled by, egrets fished the creek, pelicans and other sea birds flew low along the water while other birds hunted minnows in the shallow tidal pools. After crossing the back river we entered the narrow creeks known as Jack’s Cut where we paddled the next few miles through a small narrow twisty creek, seeing other small islands over the walls of tall green marsh grass.
We reached the beach from behind the protected island, portaged the boats a short distance over the sand before leaving them secure to explore. We strolled along the edge of the water, enjoying the quiet sounds of nature, the fresh undisturbed air, the scenery of marsh grasses atop sand dunes, hammocks of pines and palm trees sitting on the highest ground, the sound of waves breaking, and feeling the water moving across our feet as it rolled up the beach. Sure, a relaxing time but the skies showed stormy weather for as far as I could see over the ocean horizon. There were grey wet clouds with some dropping curtains of rain on the ocean. Certainly, miserable rain will fall on us at some point.
We left the beach paddling in the direction of the surf. As we entered the surf, the guide was yelling from behind us, “paddle hard directly into the waves!” Our adrenaline was running high as we fiercely paddled our boats, cutting through and over the oncoming breaking surf, the waves punching us in the chest as we crossed through the white churning water, our kayaks with bows pointing to the skies then falling into the crest of the next advancing wave. Our animalistic screams of nervous excitement happened with each successful engagement until we finally made it past the break. We turned and continued paddling north now following the coastline behind the surf as the wave energy beneath us swelled up then gently dropped giving us a chance to exhale, at least for a moment.
Then, as we were preparing our reentry into the surf, we saw a large fish behind a wave suddenly jump out of the water with the dorsal fin of several sharks in close pursuit. Seconds later, another shark struck the port side of our guide’s (Army Ranger Medic)boat with a loud thump, then splash! The look on his face wasn’t reassuring. A sudden and increased fear of capsizing joined the paddle party with the new knowledge that a man-eating fish with extraordinarily sharp teeth was now lurking below! We renewed our focus paddling through the surf, engaging the ocean with a tone of survival. We surfed waves now approaching from behind, calling on our paddling skills to avoid capsizing in the break, pure instinct to remain upright, avoiding the hungry predators beneath.
At last, we reached the calm protected waters sitting between the island and the sand bar giving us a relaxing stretch to finish the day. We all exhaled followed by laughing loudly! We each shared versions of our intense adventure, stopping at one point to watch as a pod of dolphins passed in front of us, one dolphin the guide had previously named Notch as she was missing a chunk of her dorsal fin. A great ending to an amazing day!
This “living-life” thing we just did, a memory now worthy of a life story was simply amazing, filling my spirit. The weather ladened skies above, the same skies that produced negative thoughts that could have stopped us from going were in the end, a bonus feature to the event, a critical part of the adventure. Something that would have never happened had the initial thoughts of rain, stormy weather successfully prevented us from simply moving on with our day. Life certainly rewards action and this was a great example.
By the way, I woke up the next morning excited to find a parking ticket on my truck.
Author's Note: If you ever find yourself visiting coastal Georgia, then I highly recommend a kayak paddle or eco-tour to Little Tybee. This uninhabited island sits just across the river from Tybee Island, which is the northernmost barrier island on the Georgia coast and about a 30 minute drive from Savannah. The wildlife is simply stunning.
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