Totally Tubular....

Aruba. We took adventure to the extreme today. We all went to the beach and had a fine day out. Once we all got our heads together on what to do, we decided on tubing. It was awesome and tough at the same time. I was in the first group to go. Jason Venner (our CD), Katie, and Andre (from the shops) joined me. Remembering the last time I went tubing in 2005, I thought this would be exhilarating and slightly tough to hang on. Jason promised me I was going down and I rejected him saying I was going to stay strong. He put the idea in my head of splashing water in opponent's faces by placing your hand in the water to catch a spray. We started off. It was good. We were going strong. Instead of my hand I decided to play with my foot. I wanted to have the strongest grip possible. I was going good and enjoying it. Suddenly the driver took a sharp turn. I knew what that meant. We were going to crack the whip and I was the first to go. He took the turn sharp and I still had my foot in the water. Before I knew it the wake of the boat was on me and my tube flipped over because of the resistance of my foot. Into the sea water and a mouthful of it I got in a gasp. Ewww. I spat it out and started the embarrassing swim back to the tube. I lost control. First to go. I sure ate my words. It was more difficult than I thought getting back into the tube. I hoped it would be the last time I had to do this. Although I knew I was in for more of a beating. He took off again. We were going fast and ramming into each other. I tried to counter and balance myself on the wakes. I flipped again from the middle and knocked off Katie and Andre after bouncing off of Jason's back. Jason stayed on. In the water again. Ugh! Wow this was exhausting. We got back on after much laboring and the driver was off again. This time he took a very sharp turn isolating Jason from the rest of us and whipping him on the outer edge. He was crossing the wake so fast he couldn't hold it and he was over. Bam!! He was down. He got back on after his first spill. The driver was off and zooming again doing more turns creating more crack the whips and sending us across the wakes. I was doing real well at balancing and holding on. Water was plashing in my face and I couldn't see. I was holding on for dear life eating salt water after laughing so hard. Another sharp turn in the opposite direction sent us careening across the wake of the boat along with the wakes of other boats creating this weird pattern of waves. I couldn't hold it and my foot got caught in the stream of water. Flipped!! This time I took Jason and Katie with me. I was pretty far from the tubes this time. I started to swim and took a huge gulp of seawater. My gag reflex ignited and the water along with the small snack I had earlier came spewing out of my mouth and into the sea. I was taking in too much seawater and it was exhausting me. I didn't know how much longer I could take it. I barely made it back into the tube and pressed on. He started heading back to the starting point crossing the view of our friends on the beach. He went for the turn. Oooooh. It was a sharp one and I was on the outside heading for the whip. I almost held it to the end before I bounced into the air and landed on the side of my tube sending me cart wheeling off into the sea. I was done. I was in shallow water so I was just going to walk back to the shore, but the driver said he needed to take me in. I barely made it back into my tube again to make it back to shore. He did one final crack before heading to the beach, but I held strong. Ooh that was a rough ride. It was much rougher than I remember it back in 2005. Much rougher!! The next group went consisting of our lead singer David, his wife Michon, and 2 other dancers Cara and Steve. This set of tubers weren't hurdled as much as we were, but they were given a fairly rough ride as well. Especially the guys. They really got whipped and David took 2 hard spills. Another group went out consisting of our shops men Andre (in for round 2) and Richard, and 2 of our guy dancers Chris and Marty. They left the beach only to reappear at the end all four flying high into the air on the wake of the boat and their final whip. They came off spent since there was some tough spills because there were 4 guys on the team. Whoa. I guess it was too rough for them since only 2 got minor enjoyment out of it. Spent from the day we headed back to the ship for a little clean up and pizza on the bow. A tradition that's becoming popular every time we stop in Aruba. It was definitely an exhausting day and I will definitely sleep well tonight. I will however think twice about tubing with the single tubes again and go for the doubles or triples. They take the rides smoother, but still exciting, with the more people they tow in a tube. We were asked at the beginning if we just wanted a thrilling ride or if we wanted to have some real fun. We opted for the real fun with the single tubes. Next time I'll be happy with an exciting ride or maybe just a jet ski.