Chapter 1: One More Swim
Jeff sucked down the last swallows from his glass of rum and coke as he stared out at the water from his hammock. It was the third day of his vacation on the island of Roatan, off the coast of Honduras, and he was enjoying his solitude. Jeff was between romantic relationships at the moment and although several of his friends had initially expressed an interest in going on the trip, they had ultimately all had to back out for various reasons. But Jeff was not regretting going solo in the least. He found that he liked the freedom to do whatever he wanted, whenever he wanted, and not have to worry about anyone else’s plans or desires.
Although his body had partially fused into the webbing of the hammock, he pulled himself from its evil clutches and headed toward his apartment to get his snorkeling gear. A hurricane was approaching the Western Caribbean and although it was predicted to pass well to the North of Roatan, it would probably create some storms that would restrict his outdoor activities for the next couple of days. Since he only had a few days left on the island, he wanted to get in one more swim on the reef before the weather turned. He collected his mask and fins and walked over to one of the kayaks provided by the guest house he was staying at. He secured his gear and grabbed a paddle before dragging the kayak to the water’s edge.
Although the sky was still sunny and clear, the wind was already picking up and he could see a white line of surf where the water was hitting the barrier reef fifty yards or so offshore. As he pushed the kayak out in the water and jumped into the seat, he was already being blown sideways and he quickly started paddling to avoid being blown under the dock. His intended snorkel spot was on the edge of a channel through the reef a good distance upwind and he got quite a workout paddling out to it. Despite being in relatively good shape, he was not used to kayaking, and by the time he reached the channel marker his shoulders were burning and he was breathing hard. He took a moment to recover before he slipped on his mask and fins and lowered himself into the water.
After diving down and tying off the kayak to a rock, he swam around slowly on the surface catching his breath. The reef here was spectacular, with a wide variety of corals and tropical fish. A huge queen angelfish caught his eye and he approached it slowly, watching it swim in and out of the rocks. He was almost hypnotized by the beauty of the fish and was suddenly brought back to consciousness when he looked up and found himself face to face with a large barracuda a few feet away. Startled, he actually yelled into his snorkel, and the sinister-looking toothy fish moved off.
Although Jeff knew that barracudas are generally harmless to people, the fact that he was on the reef by himself made him a bit uneasy, so he kept an eye out for the barracuda as he continued his tour of the reef. He reached the edge of the reef where it suddenly went from about 8 feet to well over 40 feet deep on a sheer drop-off. Along the drop-off, clouds of bright blue damselfish and various other tropical fish congregated. It was a beautiful sight, but the deep water of the drop-off was much darker than the water on the shallow reef, and with the residual creepy feeling left by the barracuda encounter, Jeff decided to swim back towards the shallows.
As he did, he noticed the visibility on the reef seemed to have declined and then realized that it was because the sun was no longer shining. He pulled his head from the water and saw some dark clouds gathering, so he quickly headed back to the kayak. By the time he untied the kayak and climbed on, the sky had become quite dark and the wind and waves were building. He pulled off his snorkel gear and started paddling the kayak towards shore. Although the water was choppy, paddling was considerably easier than it had been on the way out, since the strong wind was now at his back. He could see the pier at the guest house now and knew he would be able to make it to the beach in a few minutes.
Suddenly, a lightning bolt struck the elevated deck at the end of the pier and a loud burst of thunder roared through his ears. With a lightning strike so close to him, Jeff knew that the safest thing to do would be to put down his metal-handled paddle and lie back in the kayak to keep as low of a profile as possible. He quickly tied the docking rope around the paddle in case it got knocked off the kayak in the rough water and laid as flat as possible. It was not the most comfortable position, especially with the kayak getting bounced around in the waves.
All at once, several bolts of lightning flashed in the sky nearly simultaneously and the clouds started circling over him. As they circled, the clouds seemed to be getting closer and closer. As he looked to the side, Jeff could no longer see the shore. It was as if the clouds had formed a tunnel around him and the walls of the tunnel were closing in! Lightning flashed in the walls of the tunnel, but unlike the bolt that had struck the pier, it was not like any lightning John had ever seen. It glowed pink, purple, and blue and instead of thunder, the lightning made an odd crackling sound all around him. Jeff could feel his heart pounding with terror as the cloud tunnel closed in on him. The strange lightning was nearly upon him and he could feel all of the hair on his head and body standing up in the static electrical charge. The brightness of the flashes forced him to shut his eyes and at that moment, he felt the searing pain of electricity passing through his body. He saw a few brief flashes through his eyelids and then darkness, just before losing consciousness.
Pirates of the Storm: Stranded In Time Book 1 Page 2
