I was in a boat with John, Luann, Emily, Rachael, Charity, and our awesome guide Paul. We were suppose to have 8 to 9 people in each raft, but we couldn’t find anyone else so instead of splitting us up Paul agreed to take just the 6 of us as long as we promised to paddle hard. We began our day with instructions on how to paddle and get down and ride through the rapids. Then we had to practice what to do if the boat does flip over. He told us we must be calm and if we get caught under the boat to find the air pocket. So we all moved to one end of the boat and Paul flipped us out. I was the only who got caught underneath and it took me awhile before I found the air, but I did. I calmed down and came out from under the boat. I almost gave up because it was not fun being stuck without air and sucking in water, but John encouraged me to stick with it. I am glad I did because it was an awesome day!
The morning we hit many rapids. One they call “Big Brother” a class 5 (as big a rapid as you are allowed to do in a raft) was crazy. Paul told us that it was highly likely we would flip, but since he knew we wanted to stay in the boat he would do his best. I was unsure if I would stay in since the rapid before I had fallen out of the boat. It was a crazy intense ride, but Paul kept us from flipping and we all hung on. There were times we were totally under a huge wave and wondering if we’d get air again.
At one of these points I let go of my paddle (bad idea and big no no, I don’t remember doing it even) and it hit Charity in the eye. Lucky for me she is forgiving and thought the black eye was a cool battle wound. The paddle never left my hands again after that one, I felt super bad about it.
After our insane ride we paddled to an island for lunch. We were so excited to see make your own sandwiches for lunch. We had ham, salami, cheese, and tons of veggies. They even served potato salad. This is probably the best thing we’d seen in months and we all ate until we were stuffed full. Then it was back in the rafts for the afternoon.
We spent more time paddling this time as the rapids were spread much further apart than the morning. In the long times in between Paul would tell us to take off our helmets and put down our paddles and jump in and swim. So we spent time cooling off and swimming in the Nile just enjoying the beautiful surroundings around us while Paul kept the raft going. Then we would hop in and do some more rowing. My favorite rapid in the afternoon was a class 4. We headed into it and all we saw was a huge whirlpool hole of water we were heading right into and then a massive wave. It was a wild ride, but super fun. We finished out the day the first raft in. Paul was glad because the first raft gets the best ka-bobs he said. We got amazing ka-bobs and free drinks. It was a wonderful way to finish the super fun day.
