“Jenn, that water you’d be able to see through the bottom.”
“How can you tell?”
“I don’t know. Just can.”
“There isn’t any characteristics of the water that you can pick out that would tell you that?”
“I’ve been around a lot of bodies of water. I can just tell.”
It was morning and our last day in Barcelona. Vinny and I were perched against the railing of the concrete boardwalk, overlooking the beach. Though it was an overcast and cloudy day, we could still see some sailboats in the distance and various shades of the water, deep blue close to shore, turquoise, and then gray blue. Vinny knew that I’ve never been in water where I could still see my feet once I waded in, so he instantaneously peaked my interest.
“Do you want to take a closer look?” He asked me. “No, no, it’s ok. I just needed to be on a beach. I miss the water.” But he could tell I was only saying this to save time. We had a day of sight-seeing ahead of us and had a bit of late start.
“Are you sure?” I thought about it a bit. “Well ok, we can go down.” So we scampered down the ramp behind us and walked onto the sand.
“This is the first time I walk onto a beach with sneakers on,” Vinny said. I laughed. I live in New York and have walked on beaches with sneakers on, but his Brazilian feet probably never have.
We stop only a few feet away from where the water creeps onto the sand, and just stood there, looking around. He looks at me as I’m taking in the sea sights and scents, “Do you want to go in?”
I hesitated, “But my feet will get wet, which will make my socks and my sneakers all gross and soggy for the rest of the day.”
“You can wash them off.”
“Where?”
He points behind us, “There are showers right there.”
I turn and squint a bit, looking in the direction he pointed, “I don’t see them.”
He comes over to me, puts his arms around me and tries to level his eyes to mine. “Right there,” he points again.
“Oh!” And sure enough, there were two metal shower heads behind us. That was all the reason I needed.
I took off my sneakers, carefully placed my socks in them so they wouldn’t get sandy, and then walked shyly to the water. It was cold, but I didn’t care. Rolling up my jeans tightly around my knees so they wouldn’t fall, I giggled and walked closer to where the water became turquoise.
“Vinny! You’re right! I can see through the water around my feet and even ahead of me! It’s so pretty!” I hopped around a little in delight. When I turned around to face him, he had my camera in hand. Click!
I walked out, still laughing a bit, and grabbed my sneakers and socks. At the shower, I paused a bit, wondering how I was going to do this without toppling over or getting everything wet. Vinny smiled, “You’ve never done this before, have you?” I smiled back, and answered a quick, “Nope!” He guided me through the whole process. With his help, and using my sleep tank as a towel, I managed to not get anything sandy or wet.
Once we got back onto the boardwalk, I turned around and looked at the ocean contently. It was the first time I had been in waters clear enough to see through, something I’ve wanted to do for a very long time.
“Vinny?”
“Yeah?”
“Thank you.”
