“But I still want to go,” he shrugged, showing his displeasure at being excluded from the fun that we were surely going to be having at the jet boat ride.
“When you are a little bit older, you will go, Okay?”
“Okay, Dad.”
“Mum! Why can’t I go with you?” little Derrick frowned deeply as we got to the reception desk of the resort.
While talking to the receptionist, I could hear the father-son conversation that Derrick and Dane were having together.
Dane knelt beside him. “You can’t go with us because you are still a little boy and it is quite dangerous for kids.”
An attendant came around and handed an iPad over to him with his favorite game “Candy Crush” on it. Without sparing us a glance anymore, he settled down in a chair and started playing the game.
“Now be a good boy and have fun. Won’t you say goodbye to Mom and Dad?” I asked.
With his headset in concentration, he mumbled a short goodbye and continued playing his game. We got to the locker and changed into light clothing. We had been told that the jet boat ride was going to be very wet.
An attendant came after we had changed and he walked us to the boat to meet our boat captain and co-captain.
“Hello, Mr. and Mrs. Smith,” the Captain said as soon as we got to the boat. Dane and I looked at each other in surprise, how in the world did he know our name?
“My name is Tim, and this is my co-captain, Nicholas,” he continued, pointing at the second man who was considerably younger than Tim.
“We are happy to have you aboard, and we hope you do have a great time while at it,” Tim said, and we both said our thanks.
It was as though the rain was waiting for us to get on board. As soon as we got on board, the formerly clear sky became dark and before we knew it, drops of rain soon metamorphosed into a heavy downpour.
“Would you like to stay at the reception till the rain stops or you would go anyway?” Nicholas asked.
I glanced at Dane, and he shrugged. I smiled at him, knowing full well what his smile meant.
“We would go anyway,” I replied. After all, what is worth doing at all is worth doing well. When Dane and I decided to take the weekend off to celebrate our fourth wedding anniversary, we had decided to have all the fun that we could get, and we were not going to chicken out because of rain. The rain was going to make it more fun.
Dane clasped my hand in his as the rain petered down on us.
Tim kicked the jet boat into life, and we moved. I almost shouted out loud in ecstasy as the wind blew strongly past us. My hair blew softly behind me in the wind, and I started to pack it up in a bun.
“No, leave it,” Dane said, taking my hands off my head and letting it fall again.
“Would you like to have the dip?” Tim asked.
“What’s the dip?” Dane asked.
“Wait and see,” Tim replied.
Suddenly, I felt a sinking feeling in my belly as the boat made as if to sink deeper into the sea. Water splashed on us, and I gripped Dane tighter.
“Are you scared?” he laughed in my ears, and I shook my head.
By this time, the rain had gotten more intense and to say that we were dripping wet would be an understatement.
Suddenly, Ed Sheeran’s Shape of You started blaring out. Dane gave the captain a thumbs up, and I smiled again. He slowly turned me to face him and…
“Would you like to have ponchos and goggles?” Nicholas asked.
“No never mind,” I replied, “we are eventually going to get wet anyway.”
I turned back to face Dane again. Our bodies were dripping wet, and our hair was plastered to our head with the rain and the waves of the sea.
Dane cupped my face in his. “Thanks for arranging this weekend vacation,” I said to him.
I’ve always wanted to go on a jet boat ride but being the procrastinator that I was, I had never been able to get around to doing it. As an anniversary surprise, Dane had planned the weekend getaway and only informed me about it on Friday evening.
“I would do anything to make you happy, Stel,’ he said. He had always called me Stel, ever since we met, five years ago.
The song on the boat was changed to another love song of Ed Sheeran that was my favorite.
“Wait!” I asked, “did you give them a playlist of the songs that I loved?”
Dane shrugged. “Well, maybe and maybe not. Let us enjoy this ride, will you? We paid for it, you know?”
We released each other, and I took the whole scenery in. I was a sucker for nature, and I couldn’t help but see the beauty in the turbulent water. At that moment, the captain did the famous 360 spin that I’ve read so much about and watched. The spins were incredible because it was the fastest speed that the captain had used yet.
This time, I couldn’t help but dive all in into the moment and yell with ecstasy. Dane stared at me for a while before he also joined in the yelling. My head swam as the boat moved in a circle and I could almost swear that I saw the whole world swirl in front of me.
By this time, the song had been changed to Sia’s “Titanium.” The combination of the fast music, fast speed, and the circular movement finally did it for me as I finally let go. It was incredibly exhilarating and fantastic. The spins coupled with the fast speed was a thrill to live for.
By the time we got back to the shore, I was winded, and even with that, I would have gone on another round again if it were to be possible. It was that exhilarating.