My Unforgettable Experience on a Vacation to Florida

I still remember my first ever vacation when I live in Texas. It was on the warmth of a summer day in July, 2009. After finishing the spring semester at high school, my cousins and I had two months to rest, relax and go somewhere. A beach trip in the summer was always a sparking idea for us who lived far away from the beach. Hence, my cousins and I made a plan to go to Walton Beach in Florida on the Fourth of July. We both have never been to a beach before and we selected to go to the beaches in Florida because we heard Florida has the most amazing beaches. The trip was such an unforgettable vacation for me with many different emotions. Sometimes, when I recall, everything seemed to have just happened yesterday.

We were very excited about this trip because this was the first chance for us to go out of Texas. We prepared and packed up everything about three weeks before the day of departure. At 4.a.m. on July 4th, we got ready to jump on the car and drive straight to Florida. As we drove along the street, we stopped twice for breakfast and lunch and we took two more hours because we kept misreading the gps and going the wrong ways. Therefore, we had arrived at Walton Beach in the evening instead of the afternoon.

The second we got out of the car I went to check in two rooms at the Marriott Hotel, my cousins went straight to the beach to find a place to go fishing, I stayed behind and got my things settled in since i don’t like fishing. After unpacking I called a taxi to take me to them. Night fell down completely by the time I got there. This meant I missed the beautiful scene of the setting sun on the beach. I rushed to the surface of ocean and it was calm except there were some waves running up and splashing against the shore. The cool wind covered my body when I walked on a bridge where my cousins were fishing. I don’t think they noticed me because they were so concentrated on fishing.

 Not even one spoken word was made as I was standing ther. My cousins thoroughly concentrated as they watched and stared at the shade underneath the bridge where our fishing rods were dropped. They still did not recognize me so I made some noise by opening a cooler and closing it. The cooler was entirely empty. It was not a surprise to me because I knew they were horrible fishers. I ended up leaving them behind because i started to get bored and went down to the beach. Suddenly, far from the beach, I heard someone yelling, ‘Help, help me!’ I looked around shocked and tried to determine where the sound was coming from. about a half mile away from me; I saw something rising out of the surface. It looked like a person and she was about to sink into the water, fighting to stay up.

For a second, I really did not know what I should do instead of just standing transfixed with surprise. Thoughts inside my mind were going crazy because I wanted to save her but my consciousness did not allow me to do that because I did not know how to swim well at all. However, only with a few second of hesitation, I looked to my right and saw a life jacket so I took it, put it on and ran to her as fast as I could, jumping into the water. The more I got closer, the more I heard her voice clearly. ‘I’m coming, I’m coming!’ I said to myself until I grasped her hand and pulled her up the surface before she could be drowned into the water again. After being out of the surface, she clung on to me and took my neck and head in her arms unconsciously and almost pulled me down into the water.

At that time, I felt the lifejacket being taken away from me. I felt my body sinking; the water came fully into my mouth, and I could not breathe. ‘I am going to die; I am going to die’ that thought came across in my mind. I tried to struggle, lift my head up and take my life jacket back. After getting a grip of the life jacket I put it on carefully as I watched her starting to calm down and starting to cry. I said to her, ‘Alright, just calm down, hold my hand and I will take you to the shore.’ This time she did exactly what i told her and we came to the shore safely. The guards rash to us as we laid our bodies on the sand. They asked to take us to the hospital, but all I wanted to do was go back to my room and dri off.

The ambulance took me to my motel. Before they left, the girl who was still shocked did not say thanks to me nor did she say sorry for almost killing me. I just smiled and told her to be careful next time. After that, I came in my room, locked the door,t ook a shower and slept as I thought about all of things had happened to me. The next morning felt like it came by so fast as I got woken up by my older cousin, Mitch woke me up and complained about why I had been speeing for so long while on vacation. I just noticed that I had to be ready to go back to Texas by 5 p.m. and we only had 5 more hours left to enjoy the beach. I still remembered all things that happened to me last night, thus I refused that proposal at once. Despite of that I’d take walks on the sand, see the dawn and enjoy the beauty of nature. When I got there, the sun appeared below the horizon and the sky started turning bright.

Everything seemed to get up at the same time in order to start a new day. The cool breeze that brought the salty of the sea quickly faded away, as the wind blew the warm air. Until the sun rose up gradually, out of the horizon at the break of the dawn, I saw the vast volume of the ocean where I had never seen before. I heard the sound of waves rushing to the shore and the cold water was running up on the sand that filled in the gaps of my toes. I was soaking in the nature, and I just came back to reality when my oldest cousin, Lara called me to go back home.

The trip was very special and brought many deep impressions on my memory. Honestly, I felt so wonderful and enjoyed my days in Walton Beach. Although I missed the scene of the setting sun and did not really have much time to do much, I still got to see the dawn on the beach in the early morning. I was satisfied with everything I spent on it. Furthermore, on this vacation, I was aware of how close I was to death. It was such an extremely important experience for me to protect myself. Perhaps, I will learn how to swim; not only do I keep myself in safety, but also can help others. This is one memory I’ll always have with me. I don’t think I’ll ever forget this summer and my trip to Walton Beach Florida.

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