Jais: Paradise is Danger

8 out of 9 interns injured.
I am not the 1.
After lunch on Saturday we went to the Jais Resort. The sign read "This way to Paradise." It was stunning. It's one thing to know God made beautiful things. It's quite another to watch it steal your breath. It was almost unreal. As if the palm trees seperating the plush white clouds laced in golden sunshine from the rich bluest of blue ocean was just a painting, as if such beauty was too marvelous to actually been seen in person.
But after two minutes in the waters (a perfect tempeture, not so cold one has to ease in, but a great relief from the sun), two interns emerged with blue dots on their feet. Sea Urchins. Lindy called us out to put shoes on. It was then that the odd burning sensation on my foot was explained. I, too, had the tell-tale blue dot of the sea urchin.
But with shoes encasing our feet, we were good to go again.
I prepared to snorkel with the others. At first I had swimming goggles on (ones that didn't cover my nose) and in addition to my nose being filled with burning salt, I got a little panicky and would inhale sharply thru my mouth and, despite that that was a successul manner of breathing, I couldn't steady my breathing. Finally, another intern threw in the towel and threw me her snorkel goggles. With my nose encased in air, I could breathe out of my mouth without fear.
The water was pretty choppy and so the sand was stirred up making the water less than crystal clear. But the coral was still lovely. It was pretty high to the surface, so sometimes I would take a moment to breath and try to stand on it. Of course the waters were moving and I'd find myself pushed from my perch.
Swimming farth out, to the edge of where I could see the coral. I danced with a jelly fish.
After that I decided to go in.
I meet my battle buddy going in. She was lifting her foot out of the water and another intern was bent over it. The pins of an urchin were being pluced from her flesh. The intern (a nursing student) looked up from her work at my arrival and asked me to hold my battle's leg out of the water to keep the waves from jostling her work. When I walked up to the more shallow waters, the nurse caught a glance of my legs. "What did that!" she exclaimed. I looked down to my skinned knee bleeding profusly. I shrugged. "Coral, probably. No big deal."
"Have you ever been scrapped by coral before?"
"No."
"It has a tendency to try to grow inside of you."
Lovely.
I try to keep a light hearted attitude as I picture the coral I had just seen underwater growing on my knee.
I crawled out of the water to Lindy.
"Lindy, coral is pretty. But coral is danger."
Lindy sighs. "That makes 8 of 9," she says.
Inventory of wounds:
One blue dot on top of foot, next to blister from shoes.
four coral scrapes on legs (two on each)
one coral scrape on ankle
Angry jellyfish welts on forearms.
angry jellyfish redness all over arms.