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Mike Bené
Narrative Essay
January 4, 2005 |
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“I think we’re all going to die,” I thought to myself as the tiny fishing boat was tossed about on the waves. I think we have all had the feeling that things have turned terribly wrong. If you know the feeling I’m talking about, you know how it awful it is. I remember my muscles tensing up, my face turning pale, and getting that metallic taste in my mouth from the adrenaline that my body had released. The trip I took on a small boat out to a little island in Thailand was the scariest experience of my life. | ||||
The day actually started very pleasantly. My wife Pam and I rode a taxi from our hotel into town to catch the boat to an island called Koh Tao. After that, we went to the ticket office and bought our tickets. Then we went to get breakfast at a little restaurant near the pier. The weather was warm and sunny – it seemed like a perfect day for a boat trip, but things were about to change. | ||||
Maybe the first that went wrong that day was when the man on the pier told us that the usual ferry boat had an engine problem He told us not to worry though because a smaller fishing boat could take us to the island. Soon the fishing boat arrived and we got on with the other passengers. It seemed too small for all of us and there weren’t enough seats for everyone. Just before we left, I noticed that some clouds were moving in and the wind was starting to blow. | ||||
The trip to Koh Tao usually takes about 3 hours, but on this smaller boat they told us it would take a little longer. By the time we were out of view of the mainland the wind began to blow harder, and it the waves on the ocean began to get bigger and bigger. The passengers on the boat were all pretty scared, but the captain didn’t look very worried, so that made me feel better. Then the boat’s engine died. By that time, the captain looked worried. My wife began to cry and I felt like doing the same. | ||||
Then almost as fast as the wind had come up, it began to calm down. As the wind died down, the waves got smaller too. Soon the look of worry began to vanish from the captain’s face. I knew we were going to be OK if we could just get the engine going. One of the passengers was a mechanic, and he offered to help. Before long he and the captain got the engine started and all of the passengers let out a loud cheer! | ||||
That day of vacation started like a perfect day for us, but it soon turned into a terrible nightmare. We were all really scared during that storm, and I am sure that I was not the only one who thought he would die. So I guess I wasn’t that surprised about a year after my trip when I heard that a boat had sunk on that same trip. | ||||
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