Seven Days with Poseidon

Day One: We're On A Boat

They say that hindsight is 20/20 and that couldn't be any closer to the truth. When myself and my five best friends decided to go out on my boyfriend's uncles' boat, La Amaria, we couldn't have expected what would happen over the course of one week. It was spring break and everyone we knew was going to the beach. We had all planned on going too, except we waited until the last minute and all the hotels were booked. There was no way we were going miss out on having a good time just because of that. But we also wanted to stay in one place and have a whole week away from our jobs and our parents. So my boyfriend, Jonesy asked his uncle if we could his boat out for the week. He used to spend weeks in the summer with Jonesy showing him everything there was to know about sailing and navigating. His uncle was more than happy to see that Jonesy took such an interest in the hobby that he wanted to show his friends. So on a Friday afternoon after school, the six of us got on a boat.

"Jonesy, this is a boat, right?" Caitlin asked.

"Yea, doesn't it look like one?" he responded.

"It does, but," Caitlin said as she walked around. "Where's the Jacuzzi tub and the casino?" She looked genuinely confused.

"Well, Malibu Barbie, I think you misunderstood. This is a boat. You're thinking of a yacht." I lived to disappoint the blonde princess.

"So there's no shuffleboard, either?" she gave this pathetic, puppy-dog look to Jude.

"Don't worry, babe. I'll make sure we all have fun." Jude lifted Caitlin's chin in his fingers. As annoying as they were at times, Jude and Caitlin looked darn cute together.

"You guys, I don't know if I can handle being here." Jen walked up with horror in her face.

"Oh, relax, Jen. Jonesy knows what he's doing. He wouldn't let anything happen." I tried to assure her.

"And I'll be right here holding you hand, okay?" Wyatt said to Jen. He really is one of the nicest guys I know. Jen was overreacting a little bit after watching Deep Blue Sea a week ago. I absolutely insisted that we watch something happier but Jonsey actually thought it help Jen get over her fear of the ocean and sharks by showing her how dramatic and unrealistic the occurrences are in movies. But, unfortunately, much like letting a five year old watch a Freddy and Jason movie, it only confirmed and exacerbated Jen's fear.

We almost couldn't get her on the boat in the first place. If it wasn't for Wyatt we wouldn't have gotten her up there at all. By the late afternoon we were bored with exploring the boat and ready to relax. It was starting to get dark so each of us gathered with our significant other and tried to sleep. At least that's what I hoped would happen. I was sound asleep when I was suddenly startled awake by a loud crash and a high pitched scream.

"Caitlin did something stupid." I thought to myself as I moved closer to Jonesy and tried to get back to sleep. But I was awakened yet again by Jude calling me.

"Okay, so she did something really stupid." I mumbled out loud.

"What's up Jude?" I called back in a tired voice. He didn't say anything back but I heard him walking toward our bunk. He appeared holding Caitlin in his arms.

"What on earth happened?" I asked.

"Well, Caitlin tried to stand on top of the bow so she could say that she was queen of the world, but when she was standing there, a big wave hit the boat and she fell and--" he placed her down on my side of the bed. I grabbed my flashlight and the first aid kit.

"And got a pretty big gash in her thigh. As soon as I clean and dress it, she'll be fine as long as she doesn't try anything stupid like that again." I started by cleaning the blood that was dripping down her leg with a cotton ball and alcohol. I wanted to teach Caitlin a lesson so cleaned the wound with 3% peroxide as opposed iodine which would not have burned so badly. Caitlin finally showed some signs of life when she felt the peroxide on her leg. She did a muffled scream and I could see tears forming in her eyes. I knew she was just trying to act brave in front of Jude. If he hadn't been standing there the whole time she would have screamed so much louder. When I was done, Jude lifted Caitlin and carried her back to their bunk. I put away my flashlight and first aid kit and was awakened from my sleep this time by Jonesy shaking me.

"Nikki, wake up. There's a storm." And sure enough, I saw rain and heard thunder crashing down from the sky. The boat was suddenly tossing back and forth very strongly and it was my job to go warn everyone. Jonesy's job was to try to keep the boat from taking on water and to radio the coast guard to let them know where we were. Such an uneventful day turned to terror in a matter of minutes.