Did you know that, from 2005-2014, there was an average of 3,536 lethal accidental drownings annually in the United States? That’s about 10 deaths per day! Imagine, almost drowning in a lake that is 250 feet deep. It happened to me, and let me tell you it was absolutely petrifying. This summer, I went on a family vacation with my mother, father, and two sisters, but things didn’t go as planned. During the four-hour car drive to Lake George, everyone was exhilarated. I've been to Lake George as a child, but it was back when I could barely read. So, I didn’t remember much. Once we arrived at the hotel, my parents checked into our hotel room. My older sister placed our bags in the luggage cart as we pushed each other around the massive hotel. …show more content…
After finding our room we took all our belongings and placed them in our drawers. Everyone was ravenous, so we started looking for places to eat. My family and I walked around the little town of Queensbury, while it started to look familiar. The DILLIGAF store, the haunted house, even the frozen yogurt shop was still there. While a few of the stores were replaced with arcades, the majority of them were changed. We stopped at this little forest themed restaurant, which was packed. Soon after eating, my father drove back to the hotel, where we relaxed. Later that night, my sisters and I went down to the pool. By eleven we went back up to our hotel room where we fell asleep. The next morning, my parents forced everyone to wake up at six in the morning so my sister, Alyssa and I would go down to the lobby to bring up breakfast.
The food was surprisingly delicious. Everyone ate their food quickly, so we weren't late. By seven thirty we all changed into our swimming suit and started heading to the car. First, stopped at a deli to pick up something to eat for when we were on the boat. Then, we left in a hurry so we could actually claim a boat to take out on the lake. At the dock, there was not one parking spot. It was so packed one of the workers had to move their car. After my father signed all the paperwork everyone entered the boat and we drove off. About ten minutes after being on the lake my father took out the tube. Alyssa and I went first to test the waters. Once everyone got a turn on the tube we stopped the boat so we could just swim around. I jumped right in forgetting about my life jacket, which was fine because I know how to swim, my younger sister, however, didn’t know …show more content…
how. I climbed back on the boat and grabbed my life jacket and strapped it tight. I took Mia back into the water with me I could feel her arms tighten around my neck. I knew she was afraid so I let her hang onto me for a bit. I tried pushing her off into the water by herself, but she wouldn't let go. It felt as if I was in slow motion as I felt her push me further and further under the water. My legs went numb and my heart dropped to my stomach. I couldn’t feel anything except for Mia cutting off my airway. No one really understood what was happening, but once they realized I couldn't breathe, Alyssa grabbed Mia off of me allowing air to fill my lungs. My father then pulled Mia onto the boat where she was able to calm down. After the dramatic incident, Alyssa and I climbed back onto the boat.
It took a while to actually understand what had happened, but it seemed to me that I almost drowned. For the rest of the boat ride, we stayed out in sun either on the tube or in the front of the boat. We drove by the islands and saw a few tremendous houses. Soon it started to get dark out on the lake, so we started heading back to the car. My parents went to the little office to pay for the boat, while my sisters and I waited in the parking lot to dry off. Once they were done we hopped in the car and drove off to the hotel to change out of our wet clothes. When we got back everyone relaxed after our long
day.
...trength completely fails and he lets go and starts to drown and sink. to not save him but to continue to paddle and get to safety. I hold back tears with fire and brimstone and I start to paddle as if the devil were behind us even though I am feeling drained as well. After about another hour or so it seems we start closing in and my father feels sand brush his feet. We both let out a huge sigh of relief as my father finally touches the bottom. still being about a quarter mile from the shore we do sort of a “Island hop” with the sand patches and we make our way back from where we came. Once we get back we decide thats enough beach for the day and go home. Feeling victorious and defeated at the same time I still hold a scar within me. and within that scar there is a small dark hole within me that is afraid of the ocean. And to this day I fear I will forever be afraid.
So far this year, 18 people have drowned in Orange County - 10 in swimming pools, eight in the ocean. Some of the deaths were the result of plain bad luck, while others, it must be said, were caused by the victim's own poor decisions: ignoring riptide warnings, jumping into a pool without knowing how to swim and so on.
It was a warm rainy June night the humidity was high which made it even harder to breathe on the crammed boat. My family was asleep on the constantly rocking boat suddenly the boat shook, but my family was still fast asleep. I couldn’t seem to fall asleep so I got up and stepped out on the cold wet steel boats upper deck to get some air. When I got outside I realized that it was pouring bucket sized rain. I saw increasingly large waves crash furiously against the lower deck. Hard water droplets pelted my face, I could taste the salt water in my mouth from the spray of the ocean. Suddenly A massive wave slammed hard against the ship and almost swallowed the boat. Wind gusts started kicking up. I held onto the rail grasping it as if it were my prized possession. Suddenly I was blown
It was a bright and shining morning in Yosemite. I woke to up the sound of my parents yelling about whose fault it was for not bringing the blue bag packed with our sunscreen and hats; I vaguely remember my father reminding me to
I am an undocumented student at UC Davis. When I am asked a simple question such as, "describe your personal experiences", I ask myself: Where do I begin?
We thought the barf bags were the coolest thing ever. My parents were focused on getting there safely with everything in order and doing their best to keep my baby sister quiet on the plane. I asked my parents if they were worried at all about my brother and I swimming in the ocean. They agreed that neither of them were worried. “California has a lot of pollution and sewage in the ocean at the time”. “That ocean is so big it would take a lot of pollutants to make us worried about it. Lots of families were on the beach in Wilmington and Myrtle Beach area where we also went for a day” my mom said . “You and Joe noticed how salty the water was” she also mentioned. One day at the beach there was a dead, deformed looking creature washed up on shore. My dad told my brother and I to stay away from it. Growing up I really liked to eat tuna, but my dad said I could only have it once a week at the most because of the mercury in it. I follow that rule of his still to this
6. Beeck, EF, Branche, CM, Szpilman, D, Modell, JH, and Bierens, JJ (2005). A new definition of drowning: towards documentation and prevention of a global public
When I was a small child, I would always play by the docks on my grandparent's lake. I vividly recall dangling my feet off the docks and having the seaweed softly tickle my toes. Seeing my reflection is the cool dark water made me feel light and giddy, often resulting in me diving head first into the murky lake. It's been several months since I've last been there. My grandfather recently had some heart issues and has been resting in the neighboring hospital, seeing as though the lake house is far out of town. I've offered to help them maintain the house until grandpa recovered, my grandmother was exceedingly grateful. So that brings me here typing this story for whoever willing to read it. Looking out of the sliding glass door that borders
Have you ever had a moment in time that seems like minutes or hours even though it was only a few seconds? Have you ever seen everything before you play out in slow motion, where you are aware of everything around you, yet not knowing what was going on? I have, and as I look back on it, I feel very blessed and protected. On December 22, 01, I decided to take a little swim in our swimming pool and almost drowned. I still can remember it like yesterday. This incident almost cost me my life,
“Time to go to Lake Tahoe!” I exclaimed as my parents and my grandpa announced that it was time to go. After three years of waiting, it was finally time to go to lake tahoe. We couldn’t go there the past three summers because we had to visit other family. However, now it was finally time to visit my great uncle in Tahoe! I was most excited about going on a motor boat for the first time in my life. My great uncle, whose name is Bob, promised that we could all go on a motor boat when we got there. My dad wasn’t very excited though. He said the last time he went on a motor boat with Bob they crashed and my dad fractured his arm.
As we pulled out of my parents driveway, the circumstances seemed very surreal. My entire way of life had been turned upside down with only a few hours consideration. I was very much “at sea” in the ...
Have you ever had a moment in time that seems like minutes or hours even though it was only a few seconds? Have you ever seen everything before you play out in slow motion, where you are aware of everything around you, yet not knowing what was going on? I have, and as I look back on it, I feel very blessed and protected. On March 21, 1987, I decided to take a little swim in our swimming pool and almost drowned.
When I was a university student about two years ago, I enrolled in a scuba diving course. My scuba diving teacher had a big surprise: I didn’t know how to swim. In fact, I had a big fear of water. When I was a child, my parents tried to help me, so they made me take many swimming courses. Although I tried hard, I did not learn to swim. When I enrolled in the scuba diving course, I was still afraid of water. Every day when I entered the swimming pool, I battled with my fear. Fortunately, my courage won every time. Finally, one day while I was practising my dive, I realized that I did very well. So, finally, after six months of hard work, I completed the course. It is true that I was always the worst of the group, but in my own evaluation,
It was dark that night, I was nervous that this dreadful day was going to get worse. Sunday, October 23, 1998 I wanted to start writing this to tell about the weird things i’m starting to see in this new neighborhood. Gradually I keep seeing pots and pans on the sink suddenly move to the floor. I would ask my sister but she is out with my mom and dad getting the Halloween costumes. When they got home I didn’t tell them what I saw because i've seen Halloween movies and I have to have dissimulation otherwise the ghost will come out and get me first. October 24, 1998 I think I got a little nervous yesterday with the whole ghost thing. 12:32pm, Went to eat lunch with the family today and I go to get my coat. I heard the words furious and madness,
I was very excited to go swimming and meet other people to hang out with while I was outside. After, I went to my room to get a shower and put on some comfortable clothes I walked to the very front of the boat and the wind was blowing like 60 miles per hour. When I looked once again, I could see this little island with many lights on it and it was called the Bahamas. The Bahamas was very enormous and there were different shops to buy things at. When the boat finally arrived their everyone got off to go explore the island and buy thing, so I decided to look around and I bought different drinks to try. When I got to the edge there was very blue amazing glimmery water reflecting to me it was so cool to see kids playing and swimming in the water and on the