“Why do you smell like the ocean,” my aunt inquired in her heavy New York accent as she shoved a raw turkey in the oven. Evee, my aunt and uncle’s small Yorkshire Terrier scrambled by me to the glass sliding doorbarking in a really high pitched voice. She clawed at the door as a plump grey squirrel sprinted across the yard. “Evee shut up!” my aunt scolded her. My aunt was in one of those moods where anything could annoy her. I sighed. With my family preparing for tonight I had nothing to do. I trudged sluggishly into the back room where my sister sat. The t.v. was on, and she was staring at it as if in a trance. I jumped onto the nearest chair and just focused my eyes on the t.v. I was really tired, and I started to fall asleep…
“Purrrrrrrr…” I was half asleep when I woke up with a start to the loud purring of Layla, my aunt and uncle’s fluffy grey and white cat. My sister, Lauren was sitting curled up on the giant brown couch in the corner of the small room petting Layla softly. The t.v. was on a very low volume, so I could only hear the faint mumbling of the characters on it. I lay on a comfy red and white floral chair facing the t.v. It was the first day of our vacation, and probably the least exciting day. My whole family was dead tired due to the fact that we had to wake up at 3 a.m. to catch a 4 a.m. flight to Florida. It was Thanksgiving. Everyone in the house was preparing for our annual Thanksgiving feast with some family friends. The smell of fresh turkey and apple pie wafted into the room, making me even more drowsy. My aunt was in a cooking frenzy. She was racing around her own house grabbing ingredients from the back pantry and racing back to the the ovens and pans all cooking something. My mom followed her everywhere she went offering help and encouragement. My grandpa was busy outside grilling shrimp while my grandma was making stuffing beside my aunt. My sister and I offered to help, but were turned down by my aunt who was really not in the mood to be talked to. I hadn’t seen my uncle today, and I wondered what he could be doing right now. Just as I was deciding whether I should just go back to sleep until the feast or not, my uncle walked in. “Do you girls want to take the boat out into the ocean?”
“Yes!” my sister and I cried out in unison. We followed my uncle through the backyard to the small dock that was practically in my aunt and uncle’s backyard. There the sleek white boat was tied to the dock. It was a one story motorboat that was named “The Explorer.” I noticed how there was a captain’s seat, and only one seat next to it. Then there was also two seats in back, but I was too fast for my sister. I walked onto the wooden dock and hopped onto the boat. I scrambled in front next to the captain’s seat before my sister could even make it to the dock. “Aww no fair!” She whined. “I want to sit in front!”
“Too bad.” I replied quickly. “I got to the boat first, so I’m sitting in front.” She mumbled a few words that were inaudible to me, and hopped in the back of the boat. My uncle jumped in the boat next, and it rocked back and forth a few times before settling down.
“Ok” he heaved, “lets go.” He untied the sturdy rope and the boat started to drift
slowly away from the dock. Just as it appeared it was going to hit some nearby trees, my uncle started the motor and the boat started to move.
We were in a really skinny stream at first, and I was a little disappointed that the boat wasn’t moving as fast as I thought it would. We passed many houses and saw a lot of other boats docked in people’s personal docks. There was a slight warm breeze in the air which was really refreshing. My sister was on the other side of the boat sticking her hands in the cool water. “WATCH OUT FOR THAT ALLIGATOR!” my uncle yelled at her. She screamed and took her hands out of the water immediately.
“WHERE!” she screamed.
“Oh sorry”, my uncle said with a hint of sarcasm in his voice. “You probably shouldn’t stick your hands in the water, because Florida is known to have a very dangerous type of alligator that bites people’s limbs off.” My sister started to wail and she backed up to the middle of the boat. My uncle turned around and winked at me. I muffled a small laugh, and I could tell that my uncle was about to crack up. My sister didn’t go near the water again. After about half an hour the river opened up to the ocean. The smell of sea salt and the noise of the waves crashing at the shore of the ocean were clear. “Are you guys ready to turn up the speed on this boat?” He asked with the excitement obvious in his voice. We both nodded our heads almost instantly after. He turned back around in his seat and counted down from three. “Three, two, one, GO!” he slammed his foot on the gas pedal and the boat jerked, and I could hear the engine kicking in. I knew we weren’t in for a slow ride in a boat, and I was right
The wind hit me like concrete. It almost knocked me backwards, but my uncle grabbed onto my arm in one quick motion. My sister, in the back of the boat, was clinging onto my seat for dear life. It was unfortunate for her that she had brought her favorite hat yellow hat along, which had been swooped away into the wind moments after my uncle hit the gas pedal. “WE’LL GET YOU A NEW ONE!” my uncle yelled over the wind. She nodded. I looked down at the water and saw the boat hopping over the waves. At certain points it was pretty bumpy when the waves rose. I also looked behind me and past Lauren to see the tracks the boat was leaving. The water behind us was a white and was swaying ferociously. We kept heading straight forward, and I could see a beach ahead of us in the distance. My uncle didn’t know what beach was ahead of us, and he told us he needed to look at the map. “Emily, can you steer the boat for just a second while I look at this map?”
“Um… OK!” I yelled over the wind. I didn’t know how to steer a boat, but I figured it was pretty easy. If my uncle could do it, I could. I jumped into the captain’s seat, and my uncle moved over and grabbed the ahold of the map.
“Lets see, if we have been heading west for about fifteen minutes, then this beach should be…” I screamed. I hadn’t been paying attention to the water, and we were really close to the shore.
“Lauren, can you HELP?” I yelled over the swift wind. Lauren climbed over to the captain’s seat. The boat was about to crash into the shore.
My uncle rushed over to the captain’s seat. Lauren and I moved aside he took control of the steering wheel. He jerked the wheel left, and it almost did a complete spin around. We had avoided the boat being scratched and crashing. We turned completely around. “It’s probably time, we should be heading back to the house”, my uncle said with a clenched jaw.
“I’m so sorry it was an accident I’ve never driven a boat before and…”
“It’s fine” my uncle replied immediately. His disappointed look started to fade, and a smile crept across his mouth. “That was the best boat ride I’ve ever had.”
“Wait… really?” I questioned unsure if he was being sarcastic or not,.
“Yeah, I got to spend time with you guys, and even though my expensive boat almost crashed on a beach, it was quite the adventure.” I smiled. I almost wrecked one of his most valued possessions, but he always had a craving for adventure. I was just like him. Sometimes the only thing I really needed was a good adventure, and this was probably one of the most exciting adventures I have had. We started the motor again, and we went back the direction we had came. The last thing I saw as we headed back to the dock was a yellow hat floating awkwardly halfway above the surface.