Just Call Me Blue Crush

In response to re: Wish me luck... , I did it! And didn't die! Although I almost drowned at the end.
I know, Michelle in the ocean, who would have guessed.

Paddle boarding was fairly easy, as Mary (our rep who took us) promised. The board is huge and super float-y, so once you get past the waves (and the guy basically pushes you until you're past the break), it's really calm and easy to stand up. We "set sail" by the Santa Monica pier and actually got pretty far out close to this buoy with seals/sea lions on it... they be super stanky. Lee got pretty close:
Either way, we were waaaaay past the pier! so far out. AND we saw a DOLPHIN while we were out paddling! It got super close - like, 20 feet away? It was a very free willy/sea world type of moment.

The standing up part wasn't too bad, although trying to row while standing was a little sucky (re: I have no upper body strength). And Lee and Mary were speed racers and ended up MILES ahead of me and Sharon! We ended up just sitting on the board and rowing like a canoe to catch up.

On the way back in, timing was NOT my friend and I got caught up in 4 pretty huge waves and had that oh-shit i'm under water/totally getting konked with this board/which way am I facing/when do I get air moment. But i survived.
And happy I did it! A first for Michelle!

So in regards to my initial concerns:
1. drowning - didn't! yay yer!
2. being eaten by shark or dolphin - wasn't eaten, but swam all up next to a dolphin!
3. hypothermia - wetsuit took care of that!
4. losing one or both of my contacts - kept my head above water most of the time
5. lost at sea - ... almost. I felt like I wasn't moving as we paddled in
6. make a fool of myself (which unfortunately is a given) - only somewhat in the end, when I got caught up in like, 15 waves and almost drowned