30 Days of Turning 30: Day 29

Today was the day I was sadly moving out of my beach house down in Belmar. I do have a pretty kick-ass tan to show for the month that I spent down here and decided that in between vacuuming and packing up the car, I also had time for a few hours of lazing about on the beach. It was one of those perfect beach days, sun blazing, a good ocean breeze and the water looked like glass, just miles and miles of blue-green glass. And maybe a little brown. It is Jersey after all. In the water there were surfers catching the little baby waves rolling in and further out you could see the stand-up paddle boarders whisking through the water. All month long I had seen the paddle boarders and when I had gone parasailing, the fine folks at Belmar Parasail suggested that I try it as one of my thirty adventures which I had agreed was a terrific idea. But all of a sudden my month had come and gone in what felt like an instant and I had not managed to try paddle boarding. So I picked up the phone and called Summertime Surf School to see if they had any availability for a stand-up paddle boarding lesson that very day. Lucky for me they had a 4:30 PM time slot and off I went. For beginner paddlers, lessons take place in the Shark River inlet, not the ocean due to the shallow depths and lack of waves, so I headed to Neptune City for my lesson. My instructor Colin showed me how to attain balance on the board and the best way to utilize the paddle to cut through the water and before I knew it we were already in the water and paddling away. This is where my lack of grace kicked into high gear. I went from perfect posture on the long board to a small wobble, then an outright shake and finally a face plant right into the Shark River. Immediately I hoisted my soaked self back onto the board, determined to get it right. I managed to find my balance and begin to paddle, with Colin assisting and encouraging me the entire time. Just as I was starting to feel like I had gotten the hang of it and relax a little, I paddled right into someone's fishing line. And then a woman with the formidable stature of a linebacker starting yelling at me from the beach. Oops. But after THAT, I really got settled and we paddled the length of the inlet and back totaling over two miles. It was an amazing workout plus the scenery wasn't too shabby with schools of fish right beneath me and all different species of birds circling above hoping to grab some dinner. The wind was pretty strong against us on the way out, making it necessary to paddle to the point that my arms felt like they might fall off, but the return trip with the wind at our backs was a nice reprieve. My entire body ached at the end of the lesson, but in a good way. In that "I got my ass kicked by a workout" way. If I had my beach house for another month, I guarantee you would find me paddling that inlet every morning. Big thanks to Summertime Surf School for taking a graceless beginner like me and turning me onto an amazing and fun thing to do at the beach besides get a tan and eat slices of pizza the size of my head. And that completes Day 29!
Sidenote: Luckily the linebacker had left by the time I arrived back to shore