My eyes slowly open just as a cold wave of salt water comes over the port side of the boat. Around me I hear people yelling across the boat to others in the galley. Beside me someone spews their breakfast over the side, gagging and spitting. I roll over onto my side and then sit up feeling a little bit woozy. I look around me and see water spilling over the sides of the boat as it tilts on its side. I feel myself hanging onto the rope that was behind me and is now above me. It is raining out now and the rain clouding my eye sight. Slowly my hands begin to slip from the rope. I try to reposition my hands so that I don’t fall into the dark, forbidden sea. My breath is coming out in short pants and I am so cold that I can see my breath. I see some of the others floating in the dingy trying to reach some one that is in the water. After a while I just can’t hold on any more and find myself falling, terrified into cold Mediterranean Sea.
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I am standing alone on the dock of a port in Procida. My Italian never was very good so I mostly rely on my companions to tell me where we are. I am here in Italy with my two best friends in the world and two of their friends. It was my friend Chloe’s smart idea to save up, rent a boat, and then sail around the Mediterranean. We had already been out in Italy for about a week; we spent a portion of our time in Rome before taking a ferry to Procida and picking up our boat. We then sailed around to different islands exploring them and buying souvenirs for family, friends, and ourselves. Today we are planning on sailing out to Capri, the last place we are planning on visiting before we fly back home in a couple days. My friend Drew climbs out of the boat with two cups of coffee in his hands, he hands one to me and then sips out of the other. We stand there silently watching the sun rise over this little island while drinking our morning coffee.

“Is everyone else asleep?” I ask him. Drew nods still staring off to where the sunrise’s colors were slowly disappearing into a clear blue sky with only a few wispy white clouds. I carefully step back onto the boat and then climb down the stairs into the galley. Quietly I make breakfast, sausage, bacon, pancakes, and strawberries. I set the food out onto the table and soon the smell of food wafting from the galley had the rest of my companions waking up and coming out of their rooms. Drew comes from the deck. The two other girls sleep in the left aft cabin while the two boys sleep in the right aft cabin. I on the other hand am sleeping in the V-berth. We all crowd around the table and chow down on our breakfast while planning our day. Gavin checks the weather report and then relays the information to us.

“This says that the winds are going to be up to 20 to 35 miles per hour.” He closes the computer that he was looking at. “I don’t think we should go out today. It could be fairly dangerous and not all of us here are experienced sailors.” The majority of us look over at Chloe. Then we all nod at what he is saying except for Chloe.

“Gavin, we have a schedule that we need to follow. We are leaving in two days and we have to go to Capri, have time to drop off the boat, and then catch our plane. We need to leave today.” She says stubbornly. Gavin looks at her frustrated that she is undermining his authority.

“I really don’t think it would be a good idea if we leave today. It won’t be the end of the world if we miss Capri, we have seen plenty of other places and you have plenty of souvenirs.” The rest of us watch as they argue back and forth before Gavin finally caves and says we will cast off in an hour or two. With that he stomps up to the deck and then down the dock.
I begin to clean up the dishes from breakfast and Drew helps me. Chloe and the other girl, Brianna, talk about all of the cute things they are going to buy once we arrive in Capri. I roll my eyes but don’t say anything as I wash the dishes. When Drew and I are finally done I walk into my cabin and shut the door planning on getting ready before we cast off for Capri and whatever the Mediterranean has in store for us today. I pull on some jeans and a white t-shirt that has a picture of a cat hanging from a tree, underneath it says Just Hanging. I put on my Dale Junior amp hat after brushing my hair through one time. I step back out into the galley and feel the boat begin to move out of the port. I go through the cabinets to find my Dramamine and then swallow it with a swig of water. I make a face at the foul taste. I climb up onto the deck and help Gavin caste off. But before long I begin to find myself feeling drowsy and I have to lay down on one of the seats. Before long I feel myself drifting off to sleep.
I slowly pry my eyes open and as I do a wave of cold saltwater sprays over the side of the boat. I look around me and hear Gavin shouting orders at everyone above and below deck. Beside me Chloe spews her breakfast over the side of the boat, gagging and spitting. She is obviously regretting taking second servings of the pancakes. She stumbles off, her life jacket flowing behind her in the wind. I sit up feeling a bit woozy. All of a sudden I notice that the boat is starting to tilt onto its side. Everyone except for Chloe and I are in the dingy floating away from the boat. I grab onto the rope behind me right before it moved to be above me instead of behind me. I am dangling above the dark, cold, forbidden sea hanging on for my life not wanting to fall. The rain drops begin to cloud my vision and the rope is so slippery that my hands begin to slip. I try to reposition them but they just slip more before they are completely disconnected from the rope and I am free falling into the cold water. I pat my body making sure that I have on a life jacket. I do, thank God. The fall seems to take forever but when it is over I am hit by a sudden wave of terror and freezing water. I begin to splash around my terror and the rain clouding my vision. After calming myself I begin to look around trying to remember which way the island is. I decide on going to the left. While swimming I start to see some light, even when I stop swimming it keeps coming nearer and nearer. I find an abandoned piece of wood and grab onto it. With one hand I grab onto the wood and with the other I wave my hand the approaching light. The closer it gets the more my eyes close by now my teeth are chattering so much I cannot think of anything else but getting onto the source of the light and getting home. Now the light is right beside me and I feel someone grabbing me under my armpits and pulling me up. My eyes are frozen shut and I soon black out, but not before being put on the source of the light and being wrapped in a warm towel and blanket.