Hanging on for life ...

Continuation of ... We missed the boat.

Tuesday, 17th Sept 2013. 12h45 local time, SA/ D 20130917, 06h45

We immediately went to sleep, in the middle of the night, knock knock, on the door. Yes, I get up. Is that my suitcase? Ingrid, a member of our group, saw it next to the bar, 30min drive away, and she knew it belonged to someone in the group...

Thanks very much!!

I know the ocean is close by, I can hear the waves and it is very very humid and hot outside.

Our alarmclock went off at 06h00, we were offered coffee and two cars arrived shortly after that and brought us back to yesterdays Bar; now we understand, the boat to Boracay leaves from here.

We had not bothered to ask, we are still busy digesting yesterdays experiences. The luggage was wrapped into plastic bags, we were stuffed into life jackets and onto the boat...

It started rather harmless, a light spray of water, never mind about that.

After a couple of 100m I was totally drenched, again, never mind about that. I cannot describe what really happened during the next 60 minutes, I thought is this trip ever going to end? Is this going to end up us all drowning? Or will we all end up with a broken back helpless in the sea? The boat hit the waves hard, one after another, at one point of time I was crouching onto my seat, my backside off the seat, in order to protect my back. We were hanging on for life, sprays of water into faces, more hammering, speed, more water... I kept looking for Dietmar who sat behind the captain of the boat. He got the water from the back, he said: as if someone poured buckets of water into the back of his trousers!!!

Now we know why they wrapped each piece of luggage. Dietmar was fine, me also, I was so relieved when this boat trip ended with us being alive. No, I am NOT exaggerating, I am just starting to think it all thru.

Writing helps me to digest this lot and helps me to stay focussed.