It’s true, sometimes it’s what you don’t know that should be kept a secret! I’m not saying we should go around with our heads in the sand, but honestly, there are few things my brain does not need to keep as memories …
Several weeks back I was with my fiancée Kim (now wife), and my fourteen-year-old son Danny—as well as fifteen or so other vacationing adventurers. We were halfway through our Kauai zip-lining adventure, which by the way, is a blast and highly recommended. Anyway, we had just completed a monumental 200-yard zip line across a beautiful emerald green chasm—spectacular and exhilarating. It was time for lunch, and for the highly celebrated (by the two zip-line guides) natural pond swim. Great—we were all hot, sweaty, and very hungry. We proceeded to climb down a fairly sheer hillside to get to the natural pond. We needed to take extra care with Danny, since he had earlier nearly killed himself slipping down a cliff (more on that experience in a later blog).
Arrival at the natural pond was anticlimactic to say the least. We were at the bottom of a valley of sorts where the slopes of the surrounding hills sort of converge into a pit. And since it rains in Kauai almost daily, our natural pond was made from the drainage runoff . What I had pictured as a clear sparkling lake was more of a smelly, black, pool of unknown origins. Kim and I traded leery glances, and were all set to sit this swim out—hell, I can easily wait for my shower back at the resort. But at that point the gang was quickly led over to the stack of awaiting inner tubes “Jump in guys, we’ll start lunch,” shouted one of the guides. Danny was second in line right after a pretty teenage girl about his same age. “Hey Dad, last one in …” and off he jumped into the mystery pond—showoff! Every one of my fellow tourists’ heads turned in unison towards me in anticipation of my own daring jump into the abyss—“Jump in Dad.” Well I did end up jumping in (what choice did I have?), and so did Kim and most of the rest of the gang.
