RIDING AWAY

CHAPTER 5 - Why is the ocean so salty?!

I followed Marina out of the mini bus and walked to the back where Noah was waiting for me with the board I'd used that morning.

We walked down a steep path to a long pebble beach bordered with tall coconut trees. It was full of locals, families mostly, who were gathered in big groups in the shade created by the trees.

People seemed to recognize Noah and Marina immediately and they started making little high-pitched shouts while doing the shaka sign. It was pretty impressive to witness.

Noah led our small group to a free shaded spot and put his two boards, his towel and the backpack he'd brought with him down. He took off his LAGOON cap and glasses and turned to me.

"You ready?" He grunted so I hurried to take off the emerald green cotton dress I'd picked. Unwilling to worsen the already stingy rash I'd decided to wear a tee-shirt and shorts this time.

I picked the board up and faced him to let him know I was ready.

"This afternoon's going to be hell, I'm not going to lie to you..." He grunted. "I'm going to teach you how to duck-dive under waves and you're going to get used to being wiped out and rag-dolled..."

"Isn't the swell too big for that today?" Merlin asked his brother worriedly so I looked at the eight to ten feet high choppy waves that kept breaking angrily in front of us.

"Nah, it's perfect..." Noah countered. "Especially since it's only sand at the bottom here..." He added. "She might swallow a few mouthfuls but if she listens to my instructions, she'll be ok..." I cringed at once again being talked about as if I wasn't standing next to them but kept quiet.

"I'm going in..." Marina interrupted them before leaning toward me and whispering, "You can trust Noah. He knows what he's doing." I gave her a small nod and she answered with a wink before heading toward the water.

"You should tie your hair..." Noah's cold voice brought me back to the present.

"Oh yeah, sorry!" I mumbled shamefully while scolding myself inwardly for forgetting something so basic and quickly gathered my now dry hair into a high ponytail.

"Let's go..." He said as soon as I was done. So I followed him, being careful as I stepped on the hot pebbles. When we reached the water he leaned down to wrap his leash around his ankle so I did the same.

We took a few more steps in the water and he paused.

"See, from then on it's only sand at the bottom, so there's no risk of injuries when you get rag-dolled." He was much more relaxed now that he was in the water.

"Now pay attention." He went on and I straightened up at his serious tone. "Whenever you're faced with whitewater or a wave that's about to break on you, you must immediately dive underneath it not to be washed out by it." He paused. "It's actually tricky because boards are meant to float and when you push it underwater, nose first, it tends to want to pop back out of the water. So the right way of doing it is to put both hands on the rails out in front of you and push downwards, sinking the nose of your board under the water."

He paused and demonstrated the gesture in the air. "Keep your arms straight and lean forward. Don't forget to take a deep breath just before the wave breaks over you, and you and your board dive underneath. Then, lay out flat as the wave starts to go over you and press your knee on the back of your board - or your back foot for extra deep dives when the wave is really big - to level it out under the water." He showed me where to place my knee or my foot. "Angle your board back up to the surface as the wave passes over. If you've duck dived correctly, you should be in a position to immediately start paddling again. The quicker you can resume paddling out, the quicker you'll return to the lineup and the less tired you'll be."