4th of July on the Beach

We kicked off our Italian 4th of July with some patriotic sleeping in and stealing the book Hannah brought after finishing mine. After quite some time reading we all convinced ourselves, or more so our stomachs convinced us, to head into town for some breakfast. We settled on pizza and I ordered the exact same on I had for dinner last night. It was just as delicious the second time. After enjoying our pizza and getting slightly sicker of Italian food, we returned to our bungalow and I read some some. Out of my almost 400 page book I was already about a quarter of the way through it. Eventually, a change of venue was needed and my sister and I, along with our dad, headed for the beach while my mom rested. When we got to the beach we were both reading again. This time on rocks rather than our bed. We sat on a tiny patch of where the rocks where mostly small, but a few were big and good for chairs. Most importantly, our real estate was in the shade and it was hot, very, very hot. I read until I was about half way through my book and then decided it was time for a swim. It just seemed a bit wrong to go to the Italian coast and not test the waters. I managed to get Hannah into the cold water to her belly button before she ducked out. I moved on to coercing my dad into joining me in the water, which was thankfully successful. We braved the first few steps in the cold water with the hard, uncomfortable rocks beneath our feet. Wanting to give my feet a break, I dove into where I thought I might not be able to touch. I looked down before extending my feet in that direction, but was surprised to find the rocks below still looked very shallow. I thought it might be one of the beaches where it took ages for the bottom to actually become out of reach. We kept swimming, but it didn't look any deeper. In fact, some places looked shallower so I kept my feet close to my body. Eventually, I asked my dad if he could touch and he reached his foot down cautiously before exclaiming “No.” I was shocked. he is much taller than me and the bottom looked so close. I extended my leg too and found nothing but water touching me. By that point I was at the verge of panic. The clearness of the water made it impossible to judge the water’s depth, which seriously freaked me out. Every time I lowered my foot I jumpily pulled it back, afraid a crab would pinch me when I was actually inches, maybe feet, from the bottom. Still not used to it, my dad and I swam out to a rock and climbed up. Here I overcame the worst of my fear when jumping off of the rock into water that looked as shallow as my waist. I didn’t touch the bottom. I have no idea how close I was, but I was mostly concerned with being relieved and the sudden coldness of the water. We swam back to the beach, where I sat in the rocks warmed by the sun and lined them up on my legs, creating a blanket of warmth. Hannah came over with the camera and I took that opportunity to convince her to come in too. Not wanting her too miss out on the weird depth perception. She grudgingly obliged and I dragged her out through the cold while she complained about the temperature. Eventually, we got far enough out for the depth perception to take full effect. She was just a shocked and I was, which made me feel a bit better about totally freaking out earlier. We swam out to the rock and I jumped off, while Hannah just took it all in. Back in the water I tried to show her hoe much easier it was to star fish on the water here than the beach we normally go to in Hawaii. It took me no effort to get into a starfish so I naturally assumed it would be the same for Hannah, but after she struggled with it for a while, it was clear her claims about being able to do it no matter the water were true. Tired and cold, we returned to the beach to lay in the rocks and then read. We returned to our room around the time the number of beach goers started dwindling and, you guessed it, read some more. When I get a real, paper book and time I just can’t resist the temptation of entering into someone else’s story, so I don't try to. Hungry from our days adventures, we walked into town for some dinner. I ordered pasta, one of the only sure fire vegetarian options. Meanwhile, Hannah moaned about the though of having to consume another carb within the next year. She, like the rest of us, is Italian fooded out ad opted for seafood rather than anything involving flour. As the night grew darker we returned again to our beds, where I read late into the night, knowing I would be up to pack by 4:30 tomorrow.