One of my friends recently asked me about “that time I almost drowned in Thailand” and this is my response.
It happened more than a year ago in Thailand when we had to swim to a rope ladder to get to Maya Beach. The water was choppy and the weather was horrible. The boats didn’t want to enter through the main beach and all parked off about 30m from this rope ladder. We jumped in the water and 10m in I got caught in a current and started panicking. Then I became aware of the waves and where I was – the middle of nowhere. I started to swallow water. I tried to swim back to the boat but I couldn’t. I yelled for help and for the nearest boat to through a lifevest – the owner refused. I was so tired and only halfway back to the nearest boat. I turned on my back just to rest a bit. My lungs were burning, my arms and legs tired. My husband finally spotted me and dragged me to the nearest boat.
I clung to the side of the boat and got dunked as the boats were rocked and smashed against each other. I hung on for what felt like hours with just the tips of my fingers gulping water. Tears were streaming down my face. My husband pulled me onto the boat and to this day I don’t know how he pulled me out.
I sat on the boat shaking like a leaf. I had gone into complete shock. A french woman handed me a bottle of water and I couldn’t open my hands to take it. My hands stayed in a clenched state. I fed the fishes with whatever came out while I clung to a pole.
I was never that happy to get off the sea in my whole life. To this day I still get nightmares and wake up struggling for air. I also am much more careful of going into the sea and cannot stand going underwater.
