andrea takes photos: Boogie Boarding and Stingrays!

Life is just full of new experiences. After our kayaking adventure, we both wanted to play in the water way more than we had before. We got boogie boards and headed to a calm piece of beach. This adventure ends up being way more exciting than just riding some waves, but I'll get to that...

Friday night after work, we headed to a chilly beach and played until we couldn't stand the chill anymore. Saturday morning, we headed right back to the beach. We were there for hours, playing in the water, sitting in the sun, taking fun water photos, and enjoying a beach picnic. These photos were towards the end of the afternoon, when we were both trying to catch good photos of us on the waves. This was only my third time really being in the water. My first was kayaking and playing on the beach in Catalina, my second was Friday night, and then this third adventure at Corona Del Mar.

While we were playing in the water and taking these photos, it was great fun and riding those waves (even though they were very small) was an exhilarating and fun experience. Just after taking one of the photos, I put my foot down and had an immediate and excruciating pain. I thought I stepped on a piece of glass and it went deep into my foot. I yelled for Kim and we hobbled to shallower water. I pulled my foot up and it had blood running off of it. Now assured that there was a real injury, we headed quickly onto the beach, and just as quickly, it started burning with an incredible heat. I quickly realized something else had just happened, not just a cut. Kim helped me hobble to our towels and grabbed one and started squeezing my foot to stop the bleeding.

I was cringing the whole time and started feeling like my foot was numb... then my ankle... then my whole leg felt weird. This is the point where it got really scary. I have an Epipen that I keep with me due to sting allergies, and I was seriously wondering if I was going to stop breathing. Kim had the same thought process and opted for getting help - she ran the length of the beach to find a lifeguard. He came and picked me up with his Jeep, and took me to the lifeguard stand. Pretty immediately, he was filling a bucket with scalding hot water and stuck my foot in it - instant relief. Apparently, heat breaks down the poison that a STINGRAY leaves in you when it stabs you. I was quickly assured that I would be fine, other than the pain. Me and about 10 other people who were enjoying the same experience!

Ninety minutes later, I was able to stand and take my foot out of the water without it hurting, so we went home. Days of bruising, limping, swelling and ouch would follow. A week later, the foot just was not healing, so we went to an urgent care. They tore open the wound to retrieve a left behind piece of stingray barb. A full course of antibiotics and steroids were the aftercare.

So that sums up the great stingray incident of 2014. :) The weekend of Kim's birthday, we finally got to get back in the water, kind of. I haven't been in the sand yet, but we walked to a dock, climbed on another kayak, and went paddling for Kim's birthday.

Now I leave you with the "before" photos... of our fun in the ocean. :)