Jet Ski Mania!!!

Newsflash: I LOVE TO JET SKI!!!!!!! Last year when Gary brought home a jet ski I was all, "that's cool." THEN, he brought home a second one and I was all, "have you lost your ever loving mind?!?!" But I have to say -- now that I know what I know about jet skiing -- I am sooooooooooo glad he did because there's nothing like it.

Jet skiing is like a cross between riding a motorcycle, a horse, and a fishing boat. This is the gear we generally take on a jet ski trip: GPS and water-depth finder, water-tight bags, a marine radio, a cooler, dry clothes, money, phones, camera, sun glasses, etc.

I still can't dock all that great, but I'm getting there (one hand on the transmission and one hand to steer -- again -- one hand on the transmission and one hand to steer). I don't know if I've admitted this publicly or not, but the truth is I'm a pretty slow learner... but once I've got it, I've got it. I think my body just takes a while to process what my brain already knows. On our jet skis "the transmission" is the key to slowing down and coming to a stop. A lever goes in "forward" "neutral" or "reverse". Between these three gears you have to manoeuvre the handle bars to one side or the other depending on which direction you're going, to slow down enough to stop at the place on the dock you intend to. Sounds simple. It's not. I did make it two full days of jet skiing this time without getting any splinters in my hands from trying to grab the dock while still moving. That's what I call progress. Besides, I can jump waves now like nobody's business!

Between yesterday and today -- according to the GPS -- Gary and I covered 250 miles from just north of Georgetown, SC to about 8 miles shy of Wilmington NC, partially in the Intracoastal Waterway, partially in the ocean, and partially up random creeks and rivers. It was exhilarating! It was exhausting! It was WONDERFUL!

Such a Bad Ass!!!!!

I can say that today I did one of the coolest things I've EVER DONE IN MY LIFE. One of those things that I'll look back on and tell and re-tell numerous times... it'll become one of my greatest adventure stories of all time. And it happened to me today.

After trekking off the beaten path of the Waccamaw River into a narrow creek, seeing an old boat wreck up close and running over an ALLIGATOR (I didn't hurt it - I promise - I just grazed it's back... besides, it was me or him!!!)- I was growing weary of aimlessly swerving, bend after bend, in and out of cypress tree islands, swamps and osprey nesting places -- I wanted to go back to the ocean!

I wasn't sure how I'd convince Gary that he would enjoy another jaunt through 3-8 foot swells with salt water blinding us and constantly stinging our eyes and getting completely soaked over and over again -- but I did. AND. IT. WAS. AWESOME.

After sitting in the waves for a few minutes, we just could not resist and HAD to go out to the buoy floating exactly one mile offshore. Sorry Mom. Sorry Dad. I know you're BOTH having a heart attack now.

Check it out:

To see the rest of this series, click here.

To see all our jet ski videos (they're cool -- and short, I promise!) click here for more on the ocean, click here and here for more on the river and here for a close up look at a barge coming down the waterway.