Shark's Cove

I woke up, ready to do something fun. It's Friday and it's one of the last days I'll be able to spend in Hawaii before going home to Idaho. We gather in the main house, TJ and I were sleeping in our own little cottage, and discuss what we want to do. It's decided that we're going snorkeling at Shark's Cove and I can't wait!

At this point, TJ is wanting some "TJ time". He gets anxious in larger groups and because we have his family, my family, and some friends all staying together with us, I understand why he wants to spend some time alone. He decides that he wants to go to Wal-Mart to buy souvenirs and then he'll relax at the house afterwards or walk to Hukilau Beach. He tries to convince me to stay with him, but I'm too excited about snorkeling and decide to go with the big group. 

We decided to stop at Giovanni's on the way. We look at the different shops and choose out a cute dress for each of us, a gift from Mom.

We get to the beach and head down to the snorkeling area. There aren't as many people here as I had imagined and I get more excited that this special beach is more private. There is a reef wall that circles the swimming area. I can see some of the waves cascade over certain parts of the wall. It looks like a bunch of little waterfalls. There is a small entrance where waves can push through, bringing a small current into the surrounded swimming area. Once you are closer to this entrance, you can feel a strong current pushing you back towards the beach, but you barely feel it if you're closer to shore.

I can hear the different languages being spoken around me and I've gotten used to it at this point. There is a cute Korean family that seems to be arguing about their snorkeling gear and a cute European couple that is shrieking at the coldness of the water in front of me as I wade in. It takes a couple minutes for me to get used to the water and I take my time as the rocks are sharper. I see that Mike is farther out than anyone in our party, closer to the ocean entrance. Tara and Eve are next to me and it was not surprising to hear Eve's teeth chattering as she usually gets pretty cold when she swims. Sarah and Kristi arrive as I am up to my waist in the water and Kristi brings me some goggles and a snorkel from the car. The shoes she brought didn't fit me; so, I wore my flip flops and kept going with Sarah close behind me. I put my head in the water and see so much life. All of these beautiful fish are swimming around my feet. The rocks have urchins living in little crevices. I am in awe of everything I see. I reach my hand out and try to play with the fish that are swimming between my legs. Sarah is beside me and playing with the fish too. We swim farther in this shallow water, trying to avoid the sharp rocks around. We use our hands to push us ahead as our feet stay immobile. We surface as we get closer to one of the walls.

I turn to Sarah and say, "We need to come back tomorrow! This is so fun!"

I can feel that the current is much stronger as we are closer to the opening. It starts to push me and even though I am in shallow water, it's hard to fight against it. I get worried as I have had experience with strong waves in the past. I almost drowned before when I was a teenager, because I got caught in waves in California. I get somewhat paranoid about them now. I make sure that Sarah knows how I'm feeling.

"When you see a wave come through that entrance, make sure that you are in a good area. You want to be able to have your feet on the ground or you can position yourself against something. You don't want the current to carry you and throw you into one of the sharp rocks..."

She agrees with what I'm saying and we carry on. Earlier, we saw Mike climb up the side of one of the walls. He sits in a little pool at the top and is enjoying himself. He brought an underwater camera and is capturing pictures of the waves as they come over the top of the wall. It looks fun. We decide to join him. 

It looks fun, because he gets to be there when the waves come. They are small ones, small enough where he relaxes as they roll over him and the wall. Sarah and I start to climb up and I was surprised at the sharpness of the wall. I slipped and was able to catch myself, but I had cut my foot a little. I decided to keep going. Small waves came as we climbed and the water felt good as it fell in little waterfalls over my feet. We finally got to the top and tried to find a comfortable spot to sit. It's hard, because I can't hold onto anything to help me sit. Sarah is adjusting to this much better than I. I finally lower myself, but it is uncomfortable. I am facing the open water, my back to the cove. Sarah is to my right and Mike to my left. They are both facing each other, one side to the waves and the other side to the cove. There is a larger rock that blocks most of Mike from the waves. When the waves come in, it breaks against the rock. We sit through a few waves, laughing at how fun it is, talking about how beautiful it looks to be there.

Suddenly, I see a wave that looks scary. It is much bigger than the others. I have been able to brace myself before, but I am scared. My position makes me nervous, because my whole body faces it, not just my side. I decide to stay and try to brace myself again, not wanting to re-position myself at the last minute. The wave is too strong. I feel myself fly onto my back, my legs up in the air. My eyes fly open out of fear and I can see all of this water rushing over me. It passes and I sit up slowly, my back in pain. Mike is right in front of me, holding my legs. I am shaking and so is he as he looks me over. He saved me. He must have moved quickly, because I had no idea that he had grabbed me.

"Are you okay?" 

As he asks me this question, I see that behind him, a second and bigger wave is coming. As soon as he asks me this question, I know that I am not and we are not okay. It hits us. It slams against Mike's back and my stomach and I know that I am rolling over the wall, towards the cove. I can't breathe. I'm swallowing gulps of water, but I can't help myself. The water had hit my stomach so hard that I couldn't catch my breath before being swallowed in the wave. I am drowning. I know that I am drowning. I try to hold on, grabbing at sharp rocks. I am clawing, trying to hold onto something. But, I am losing. I keep lashing out, trying to find something to save me and then a voice.

"Just let go."

It was quiet, calm. Just let go. It raced through my mind to let go. Let go of the rocks, don't try to hold on. Go with the water, because fighting against it is hurting me more. I feel myself roll and roll as the water carries me. I feel my back against the reef and then my legs and my knee and then suddenly it's over. I stand up in water that is to my chest.

I look around and see people gathering on the beach, staring and pointing in my direction. I look to my left and see an Asian man staring at Sarah who is standing a few feet away from me in the water. I think he is going to help her, but instead he pulls out his camera and starts taking pictures of her. I am too confused to be mad and move on to look at her. She is bleeding. I can see cuts on her arms. Her eyes are wide and she is just standing there like me. I am frightened that another wave will come and I know that we are too weak to fight against a strong current. I don't want to be pushed into more reef. I make eye contact with Sarah.

"We need to get out of the water. We need to get out of the water now!" 

I see Mike sitting on part of the wall. Sarah and I had made it back into the water, but he hadn't made it as far. The whole left side of his body has cuts and his knees are bleeding. He continues to sit there and he is pale. I turn to try to find Esther, Keyvan, and Kristi. My left leg aches and I am too scared to straighten it. My arms are shaking, my whole body is shaking. I see them far off to my right; they are oblivious to what just happened. They are face down in the water, looking at fish. I try to yell at her, try to get her attention. I later find out that my yells weren't loud at all and that when I yelled at Sarah and for Esther, it came out as a whimper.

"Esther, we need help."

An older, Australian couple is closer to me and hear me first.

"Are you hurt? Do you need help?"

"Yes, I need help."

They came to my side. Esther and Keyvan notice and swim over behind them. The Australians hold my hands and prop me up as they help move me to the beach. I forget about everyone behind me as my injuries start to ache. I look down in the water and see that my knee is bloody. White chunks start floating out of my knee and I feel nauseous and look away. My hands start to hurt and I see cuts on them. My right arm has cuts all over it. My right thigh has large cuts on it. I start to cry. I can taste blood and wonder if my nose is bleeding. I whimper as they walk me to the beach. A young man comes to my side. He asks if there is anything he can do. He trades places with the Australian woman and holds my left arm. He later on takes off his sandals and offers them to me, but I don't want them. I just want to get out of the water. Esther comes in the front of us and after conversing with the Australians, she is put in charge of swimming ahead to make sure that we are taking the best path in, the path that avoids the most rocks. The Australians begin to talk with me.

"Looks like your leg isn't broken! That's good news aye!"

"Can you step over this rock?"

"We'll lift your leg and you let us know if you can't do it..."

"Sometimes the water shakes us up a bit aye!"

"You're going to be alright aye! You're a bit shaken up, but you're going to be okay."

She stops me right before we reach the shore and stares me right in the eyes when she says that. She holds my face in her hands and looks right at me and tells me that I'm going to be okay. I don't see the Australians again.

I remember being helped out of the water. I can tell that my feet are cut as I feel the sand scrape against them. My whole body is still shaking and I continue to cry. Someone tries to pull my right tank top strap up and I feel a sharp pain. My shoulder has cuts. I can feel fabric brushing against the cuts of my thigh and know that my tank top is ripped. 

People are staring at me and commenting, but I don't care. I'm too tired and scared to care. I'm scared about what happened, but I'm also terrified of the recovery process. When I was a little girl, I fell off my bike. My knee hit gravel. My mom quickly washed it off and took out as much gravel as she could. It obviously helped that she did it immediately after the accident, because I couldn't feel much pain. But, when we went to the hospital later, I could feel the pain as they took the rest of the gravel out. I knew that something similar would happen this time. 

I sit weakly on a rock. The breeze hurts as it hits my fresh cuts. The Australians have been replaced by a muscly, short man. He tells me that he is going to help me. My mom helps put a bandage on my knee; I can't feel it. He talks to me about my wounds and tells me that they are not too bad, but that they will have to scrub them. I'm pretty sure that he talked about them using a toothbrush at one point. I am asked if I am ready to go but I'm dizzy. I start to feel warmth and the sun feels good. I can't concentrate on anything. My vision starts to fade. It doesn't get darker; I always thought that everything goes black when one is in shock, but everything got brighter. It was too bright to keep my eyes open for long. Everything is blurred and bright. I close my eyes for longer. I tell everyone that I can't see. My mom tells me that I need to stay seated and that it will seem annoying, but that people need to keep talking to me. There were so many voices around me. Kristi started asking me questions and someone else asked me questions too. I didn't want to answer. I kept saying that I just wanted to lay down. A nap would feel so good; I want to sleep. But Mom replied that I cannot sleep; I must stay awake. 

Once I am out of shock, I can feel more pain. My cuts are starting to ache and I want to get into the car. The muscly man helps me on my left and Mom's on my right as we walk slowly up the hill to the car. I can hear people talking again. I hear pictures being taken. I am finally at the car and Mom stops me to take pictures of her own. Really?

"Lei, hold still, let me take a few pictures."

"Mom, stop. Don't take pictures! I'm injured!"

I start to cry but am thankful later when I look through the pictures and see the injuries that I couldn't look at before. 

I finally get to sit in the car. I'm finally getting to rest and I lean my back against the seat. Even though it hurts all over, it feels good. Kristi sits besides me and cries with me. She rubs my arm and says that she's sorry it happened. My mom informs me that we are going to the fire station which is right next to the beach. Sarah and Mike were there. I walk in, eager to see them. Mike is sitting on a picnic table, getting checked by the firemen. Sarah is laying on the ground with a blanket over her. She had gone into shock. We decide to all head over to Kahuku Hospital; we don't want an ambulance. Mike and Tara get in their car and Sarah hops into the back with me. 

We turn to each other, holding hands, and we start to cry. We both repeatedly apologize to each other. Kristi sits in the front and cries while watching us. While we were crying about everything that happened, a part of me was crying because this is my little sister. My little sister is hurt with scratches all over her and there is nothing I can do about it. I can't comfort her and I can't help her because I am hurt too. The windows get rolled up, because the air burns on our cuts. We continue to cry.

Sarah gets dropped off at the house. They said that her cuts weren't deep enough where she would need stitches. She gets out of the car and kisses me. She says that she wishes she could be there with me. We apologize to each other again and she goes in the house. Kristi and Esther are in charge of scrubbing her cuts.

We got to the hospital and I continue to cry. I am so scared of the shower that waits ahead. We walk up to the hospital and a woman comes out with a wheelchair. I sit and they bring me in. I keep thinking about the shower. As soon as we are in, I see Mike laying down as they are looking at his cuts. They have me lay down in a bed next to his, a curtain between us. I talk with him for awhile and he makes me feel better. We talk about his wounds and he tells me that he's going to get stitches. He then leaves to take his shower. I keep asking for drugs. I know that I'm going to need some for this shower! I am terrified. I always had this idea that I wouldn't take any drugs while giving birth. My mom and sister did it without drugs, and it was a nice tradition to carry on. My family doesn't like to use any drugs. While growing up, I used to have to drink garlic and vinegar when I was sick. I didn't know about ibuprofen or Tylenol or Advil. After this experience, I'm not sure that I will be 'going all natural' anymore...

Sheila is my nurse. She's awesome. She gives me drugs. She's awesome. While we wait the 20 minutes for the drugs to kick in, she looks at my cuts. She was trying to figure out how to get my clothes off with all of the cuts and I told her that we should just cut them. I didn't want any extra pain. She cut open my tank top and helped me take it off. She stops when she looks at my sports bra, saying that she feels bad ruining it. I told her not to worry, that I'd rather just buy a new one than try to squeeze out of it. She cuts it off. She looks at my shorts and we decide to take them off and not cut them. She puts me in a gown and the doctor comes in to look at my cuts. He says that I'm probably going to need stitches in one of the cuts on my knee. 

It's time for the shower. We take the elevator to the second floor. We have to wait while the shower gets cleaned out from Mike's shower. I joke with my mom that we can run, I will run with her. We're suddenly in the shower room. It's this huge room with a chair that I can sit on while they wash me. I don't want to sit. I stand as they start with my legs and feet. They decide that to get it done as fast as possible, they will wash multiple body parts at once. Sheila bends down to wash my legs and feet while my mom grabs the shower head, starting to wash my back. I immediately start crying. I don't want to wait for the burning to start, I just want to let go and cry. I sob through the whole shower. I bawl while my feet burn as she washes out the sand. I scream when the water hits my upper shoulder, the cuts immediately stinging. My arms and legs ache as she rubs them. I feel raw and stupid for putting myself in this position. I can't wait for this day to be over. She tells me to wash the parts that aren't cut so that this can be my full shower for the day. I wash as quickly as possible so that I can get out. She pats me dry and the shower is finally over!

I was surprised that the shallow cuts hurt the most. I barely felt my knee at all during the shower, but I had felt the burning pain of my back being washed. My mom and the nurse inform me that the gash on me knee removed my nerves in that area. The shallow cuts scraped along my nerves; those would hurt more because I still had nerves there.

We sit back on the bed, dry and tired. Sheila slowly makes her way around my body as she starts bandaging up my wounds. She puts bandages on my back, my right arm and elbow, my left arm and elbow, and on my right thigh; she leaves my knee open. The doctor comes in. He's going to stitch one of the cuts on my knee. I have a huge gash, but there is not enough skin in the area for him to stitch it. He tells me that I will definitely have a scar there. 

"The stitches aren't going to hurt, but this shot will. It will feel like a bee sting."

He was right. It felt like a bee sting, A REALLY LONG bee sting. He pulls the needle out only to stick it back in another spot. I don't hold in pain very easily. I usually yell when I am in pain. It helps me handle it. So, I yell.

"WHAT IS THIS?!?! AAAAAAHHHH! THIS IS THE LONGEST BEE STING! IT JUST KEEPS COMING! IT DOES NOT END!!"

Finally, it ends. He starts stitching my knee and I watch him. The first stitch hurts a little, but I can't feel any of the others. It's so interesting. Here he is, pulling my skin out and stabbing it with a needle. I'm shocked at how flexible my skin is. It's amazing! There is an extra flap of skin that he can't stitch and he cuts it off. I still don't feel anything.

Fast forward 3 weeks. My stitches are out and all of my cuts are healing well. I have two scabs left on my knee, the spot where I got stitches and the huge gash, but overall, I'm doing great! I can't wait to go snorkeling again, but I've learned my lesson: Do not climb on the reef walls.