(Dewey Beach, DE)
Today is the day! Today is the day that Melissa and Elaine and I have thinking about all week. Of course Elaine and I knew what we were thinking about, and Melissa, well her thoughts just ran wild.
We all dressed in shorts and T’s or bathing suits with cover-ups. We told Melissa we were going to the beach right after the surprise so she should wear a bathing suit.
Elaine met us in Dewey Beach and Evalou, Ronnie, Patty, Melissa and I rode to Dewey together. On the way I told Melissa I couldn’t hold it any longer, that I had to tell her so that she could prepare herself. She was practically bursting with anticipation. I finally let it out of the bag. “Melissa, we’re going to go swimming with the dolphins!” Her eyes got as big as saucers and she grinned from ear to ear and was so excited. Then she finally spoke. “WOW!” “How cool!” And she just couldn’t stop smiling. Until. Until Ronnie went and broke the spell with, “Yeah, Melissa, its gonna be great but you do have to watch out for the small shark they have in the tank.” She looked at me with such concern and then said, “Noooo,,,there can’t be a shark in the tank.” I assured her it was only a little one. Well, she wasn’t buying that so I told her that no, there was no shark that her dad was only kidding her. She looked very relieved.
So we pulled into the Rusty Rudder Restaurant parking lot and I told Ronnie where to park and that the tank was out bank. We all pile out of the car and the first thing we notice is a volleyball game going on.
I finally see Elaine and we connect again for the first time in two years. These forever friends are back together again!
There’s lots of activity going on all around us. I walk over to Melissa and said, “Melissa, I have something to tell you. We’re not going to swim with the dolphins.” “We’re not?” she said. “No, we’re not, we’re going PARASAILING instead!” She was thrilled! She told me that loved the idea of swimming with the dolphins but liked parasailing a whole lot more.
I was gifted three gift certificates from the owner of the company. I had met him in the marina and told him that I would be happy to tell the campers in the campground about his business and would pass out brochures if he would provide them. Of course I also added that I’d have to get something in return for all this advertising. I really just expected two passes and I had already talked with Elaine about this so when he gave me three it was truly a bonus!
Not only did Justin gift me with three passes we had three watchers who were going to ride in the boat and normally that would cost $15.00 per person but he gifted that too.
I don’t know if Patty is happy about the beautiful day or if she’s so happy that its her daughter going and not her.
Ronnie seemed pretty happy too. Hmmm…there’s something about a man in blue Cap’n Crunch shirt. I don’t what, but there’s something.
So now we’re out in the boat and we’ve got our life preservers on and the harnesses. I had truly considered taking my camera up with me because I’ve been parasailing before and knew that it was an easy ride and the views are spectacular. I had parasailed in the Outer Banks about 20 years ago and just loved it. I went up 1200 feet in OBX and today we would go up 800 feet. Piece a cake. Or so I thought. <<<<<<RED FLAG! RED FLAG!
Here we are, all suited up listening to instructions.
They have a triple seat which we had hoped to use but since it is on the windy side it was decided that Elaine and Melissa would go up first and then Melissa and I would go up next. Melissa was getting to go twice and she quite undecided how she felt about this not having ever been before.
Getting the sail up.
And she’s up!
I look at this next picture and I see the First Mate hold his hand out like saying, “C’mon already!” and then I see Elaine sitting there checking out her manicure and trying to decide if she’s going or not.
Getting hooked up.
There they go!
You get up there pretty high, even for 800 feet.
Everyone gets dipped in the water.
What goes up…must come down.
They loved it! Elaine has been wanting to do this for a long time and I was really glad that Melissa liked it so that she would go with me.
So now its my turn.
Here we go!
When we got to this height…..
…..I realized that somewhere along the line in the last twenty years, since I first parasailed, I have developed a fear of heights! I held on for dear life and white knuckles were definitely evident.
I did manage to wrap one arm around the strap and make a motion with my hand that I wanted down. I kept pointing down and I guess from the boat it looked like I was waving,,,,so they all waved back.
We did have a beautiful day for this.
We did get dipped,,,
I can tell you the air was colder than the water and we really felt it as we were lifted once again into the air. The wind had picked up which made me all the more uncomfortable.
I was so glad to be back on the boat!
I think he was prying my fingers from the straps here.
Here I am saying, “Piece of cake!” and lying through my teeth!
We had a mother/daughter team on our boat too who were also going to go parasailing. That was all fine and good but as I mentioned, the wind had picked up and the water was getting rough and choppy. And dontcha know….I get seasick. They tell me I was as white as Melissa a ghost. I kept looking for something to focus on on land but depending which direction we were hitting the waves from I couldn’t always hold that focus. Because it was getting windier their ride was cut short by a few minutes. Yay,,,I mean awwwww.
I was glad to get back on land! We all spent the afternoon on the beach. It was great to spend time with Elaine and talk the afternoon away!
We had a cookout for dinner with hot dogs, hamburgers, potato salad, corn on the cob and more of the squash/tomato dish.
Oh yeah, I almost forgot. When we got back to the campground, Melissa started texting her friends back home about the parasailing. In Melissa’s eyes I was elevated from cool cousin to SUPER COOLEST COUSIN IN THE WHOLE WORLD!
What a great day, well except for the fear of heights and seasick, queasy feeling.
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