Eclipse 2026
This was the day of the eclipse and I almost drowned so I figured I'd write something about what happened.
We got to the beach and I felt pretty good. After the beach from the day before with Atoosa and Kevin, I was pretty confident in heading out into the water for a bit on my own. Yeah the waves were big, but if I just get through them they’ll ease off and calm out.
So I headed in and noticed that I could still feel the sand below me for a fair bit and felt chill that I could just walk back if needed. Went a bit further till the sand stopped, and figured I'd just float there for a bit. Laid back and watched the sky and saw the first clipping of the sun from the eclipse.It was about that time where I decided I should probably head back but as I went upright and looked around, I realised I was really far out. No worries, I'll just start my swim back.
Started swimming and was in earshot of the other people in the water so I felt pretty confident of heading back. Deciding it was chill, I went back on my back and swam like that in what I thought was towards the shore.
I looked over my shoulder a couple times and thought, "huh, I'm still going further right to the cliffs" so I figured I'd go parallel to the shore to get some distance away from the cliff. At that point I felt a bit winded, nothing major but felt that I should definitely get out now rather than waiting for me to tire more.
I swam for a bit and did see the cliffs getting further away so the going was good and thought to start turning towards the beach - in theory that would be the quickest way back. I noted the cliffs there and the thought of hitting them got into my head so I figured, hey time for a workout let's push to get back sooner.
It was probably 5-10 minutes after this that I started to realise I was barely moving. There was this silhouette of a plant in the water that I kept seeing come back to me. Thinking I must be mistaking it for another, I looked to the hills on my left to note a point on there and use that as a benchmark of how fast I was moving. Another 5 odd minutes of swimming after, I realised I was in fact, barely moving and that spot was in the same position.
I think that was the point where I hit my oh shit moment. I was out here, not even in line with the beach and more on the cliff side, with no one around me, and the tide taking me towards the cliffs rather than the beach.
Running through my brain, I went through loads of scenarios:
- With the eclipse happening if everything turned dark I would be truly fucked
- If I let myself float, I hit the cliffs, and I've heard enough about that situation to know I'd be fucked
- If I keep to my current swimming pace, the tide would keep me in the same position and I'd just tire out and be fucked
- Worst case, tides get worse and they'll rush me to the cliffs - best case they even out and I can swim the calmer tide back to the beach.
I wouldn't be able to control the way of the sea, so the only thing in my control was to just give it my all to swim parallel to the beach and away from the cliffs.
So I start swimming as hard as I can. Just chanting in my head, If you panic, you die. Started as hard as I could with a breaststroke, till my left leg cramped. Then switched over to my back to give my leg a chance to recover while pushing with my arms as hard as I could.
Again, barely moving, I try to switch back to a breaststroke but then feel my other leg cramp. Pushing through that, I kept that up - but at that point I was going closer to the cliffs. So with my legs cramping, I thought fuck it and tried a doggy paddle and just lunging my stiff legs out there trying to move.
I don’t know how long that stint lasted, but I realised it was all futile. It was taking all my effort not to move closer to the cliffs but I wasn't moving away from them either. I got back upright treading water to note the situation again. Swimming was out of the question - it wouldn't get me to safety. Floating would buy me some time, but would eventually lead me to hit the cliff. I thought, maybe I could get to a safe part of the cliff, maybe break a few bones but have a chance of getting out of here.
Realising that was a shit option, I look around me and see nothing nearby - a couple boats but how the hell would I get their attention. That's when I notice the sounds around me. Over the screaming winds, I heard the waves. The absolute roar of the waves hitting the cliffs, and the spray of the water from it. The force it was colliding would've meant immediate death.At that point, I realised my only option was trying to get help somehow. The thought crossed my mind, Is it more embarrassing to get help or to die? That had a pretty clear answer, to just shut the fuck up and get help. I try to wave, but with my legs stiff as hell, bringing my arms out to wave just sent me under.
Trying that repeatedly just repeated the same thing. Wave, fall under, resurface, wave, fall, repeat. I saw people at the beach, couldn't tell what was going on. Look towards the boats, don't see any moving. So with no other option, I just decide, I'm just floating on my back to preserve energy and yelling for help as loud as I could.
If the tide takes me in somewhere, I need some level of energy to try and figure that out, so on my back I went just yelling repeatedly help. That was my oh this actually be the end of me. Just lying out here, yelling, not really being able to do anything but hope and pray.
It sounds weird now but I was just thinking about parts of my life. Laughing at the Chateau, exploring rural towns while backpacking Japan. And all the property bullshit to make money. All of that just going to fall away. I felt weirdly calm?, but knew I just had to keep yelling.
At a certain point I look over and see what I thought was a kayak, now know was a paddle board heading towards me and I just got filled with relief. That part after was a bit of a blur of just trying to understand what everyone was saying in French and trying to follow orders.At some point on the paddle board I'm like this is really fucking awkward and ask the guy's name. I have no clue why I asked that and why my brain was going how to make this less awkward. But hey, Seb was my fucking hero and quite literally saved my life.
I get ferried off the board to a boat with this couple, then ferried on to a coastguard boat till I make it back to shore.
Finally get on land and I just want the world to shut up and sleep, but then the ambulance?, fire brigade?, someone gets me in a truck to do checkups with Kevin, Atoosa, and Tracy there and thank fuck for you guys. Anyway, I'm here I guess.
Oh and hey I ended up on a news board :)