A Saturday at the beach!
We had plans to spend the day on our friend Alvaro's boat near Angra and Ilha Grande--about 2 hours out of the city, but the rain has been coming and going, sometimes pretty forceful. It's just part of the season. So, at 6:30 a.m. Alvaro called the Marina only to receive a report involving fog and rain--not exactly conducive to boating. In turn, we slept in and brainstormed rainy day activities. Throughout the time of brainstorming the clouds broke up, and the sun was shining in the city. Plan B: Visit a beach in the city we haven't been to. The result: this adorable little beach between Sao Conrado and Barra, only 15 minutes drive from our house. It has a name, but I can't remember it.Here are Sierra and her friend Luisa as we arrived and scoped the beach below. There was a quaint little walk down the hill to get to the sand. Only a few people speckled the beach and several surfers bobbed in the water beyond the waves.
The girls posed for a second shot with the full ocean in the background, and a couple of motorcycles.
The decent to the beach was interrupted as Alvaro paused to notice 4 children in the water near some rocks. We all stopped, and Alvaro suddenly said, "I think those kids are in trouble." The current near the rocks creates a dangerous undertow, and the kids appeared to be stuck in the undertow. We watched for about 5 seconds before Alvaro started yelling to the surfers in the water and those ascending the rocks near us, "There are 4 children! They need help! They're in trouble." Soon, a surfer who had been heading up the hill handed me his car keys, asking for me to hold them for him. He proceeded to put on his fins and jump in the water with his board. There had been one of the 4 kids who had drifted from the other 3 and that poor little boy's body kept bobbing under the water more frequently! The lump in the pit of my stomach was huge as I watched the events unfold. In what seemed like hours, but was actually only a minute or two, the surfer who handed me his keys reached the bobbing boy and 3 other surfers from in the water reached the other 3 children and placed them on the surfboards to pull them to safety, away from the rocks, beyond the waves and back into shore. Praise God!
We all five watched the entire process of events with worry and fear and prayer. Once the kids were safe, we completed our descent to the beach, quietly. I returned the keys to the good semaritan surfer when he reached the beach, acting as though he had not done anything special. I wanted to hug him for his actions--but I refrained. Sierra and Luisa didn't really enter the water until we had been at the beach for at least an hour; I think they were a bit apprehensive--with reason.
The experience provided a great opportunity to discuss the dangers of the ocean. Alvaro grew up on the ocean, both surfing and boating. He has been the rescuer surfer more than once. He said he was ready to ask those surfers on the rock near us for their board if they hadn't moved when they did to rescue the kids. We concluded our conversation over lunch/dinner with the girls, explaining how important it is to always be cautious of the waves and the tides and where you are at all times. The ocean is majestic but its powers are greater than ours. We must respect its forces.