Riding the Waves

"I've never swum in the Pacific," I told DW, as we were watching the sun approach the horizon on Playa Santa Teresa, in Costa Rica, last February.

"What about when we were in California?" she asked, referring to our trip in 2016.

"You and the girls swam in the ocean," I said. "I watched our things on the beach."

"What's stopping you from going in now?" DW held out her hand to take my D-SLR and tripod, and my hat and glasses. I was dressed in bathing trunks and a quick-dry t-shirt, with my Keens on my feet.

I held onto my 360-degree camera, which was on an extendible, three-metre selfie stick. That, I would take into the ocean with me.

I needed some video footage of the massive waves that were crashing in.

So, I've finally swum on both coastlines: the Atlantic and the Pacific. I've been in the Atlantic Ocean several times—in Prince Edward Island and Nova Scotia, and if the mouth of the Bay of Fundy, in New Brunswick, counts, then there, too.

And then, there's Cape Cod.

In August, 2011, we made a last-minute decision to vacation in Dennis Port, on the southern shore. It was a very last-minute decision: DW found an available cottage for rental on a Saturday morning, booked it, and within an hour the entire family was packed up in our Honda Odyssey and on the road.

We pulled into the cottage around 10 pm that evening.

One of the nice things about the cottage was that it was right beside an old cemetery. The neighbours were dead-quiet. But the best thing about the cottage was that it was a short drive from a great beach with excellent sand and perfect waves: big enough to play in but not too big as to have us worry about the kids playing in them.

While I spent most of the time on the beach, watching our things, DW and the girls took our wave boards and played in the surf. I captured tons of photos of the three, having a blast.

At one point, DW came out of the water and reached for my D-SLR. "Go have fun," she said. "I'll watch our stuff."

She managed to capture me on the wave board, having fun, and spending some daddy-daughter time with Kid 1.

I don't go in the water very often because if my head goes under the surface, my sinuses often give me grief the next day. But on this day, in August of 2011, just as it was in February of this year, it was worth it.

I have shared some of the bigger adventures that we had on this Cape Cod getaway, be it whale watching, car woes, or avoiding a hurricane, so if you want to know more about this trip, you can click the related links.

But this day was one of my favourites of the trip.

Happy Thursday!