It the morning there was no wind. It was really hot, so we played some games with the kids in the water. ´Waterpolo´ was a big success. We had big fun! After some more games we went on a trip with one of the new ribs to swim in the “deep” sea. But once we were there, we saw lots of jellyfishes. The kids loved them. These jellyfishes don’t bite and kids play with them all the time at the beach. Anyway we decided not to swim but have a look for more jellyfishes and there were lots… so the kids had fun, unfortunately without any sailing. We closed the morning with an ice cream and congratulations… they will get the certificate at the end of the whole summer program. Some kids wanted us to sign there books, after that we made a picture together and the kids jumped back in the water because it was too hot.
So hot that during the lunch we placed a table with umbrella in the water and cooled down.
As always the wind arrives at 2.30pm. There was not a lot of wind but enough to make a nice big tour.
It was quite difficult for the kids to sail with that less wind, but they did great! Also here we closed the afternoon with some congratulations, extra advices, a nice cold drink and of course a picture.
Everyone started to enjoy their weekend. We had a nice BBQ on the beach. The beach was crowded. It became dark. We had some nice fireworks to look at. Some guests went wakeboarding.
And at one point… the nice weather changed really fast in storm, rain and thunder… I would say in two minutes. Everyone reacted really quick. The wakeboarders came straight back and everyone who was hanging around the beach club helped to put all the boats and stuff inside. It is difficult to describe… but the wind shifted 180 degrees, waves started to raise, white caps came, wind became 10 bft, rain came pooring down the sky with great force and every minute there was a really big big thunder. It was real hectic. One of the catamarans at the beach blew away. After saved our own stuff and people we tried to help other people. The beach was empty in 5 minutes, so it was only us with 15 people and all fishers who had problems to get save on the beach. One fisher boat with 4 people had difficulties to come back to the beach. The other already got there, but couldn’t get the boats on the beach because they were too heavy. After half an hour of action... we were all save in the tent. The wind get a bit less, so we decided to go back home. Once home and showered the weather calmed down and we decided to go to a night club. The babysitter, a really good swimmer, told us that she saved 3 people and unfortunately 10 people died! Most of the Chinese people can not swim and are wearing those floatable rings around their upper arms or the big ones around their upper body… those things the kids in Europe wear when they cannot swim or when they want to play.
Anyway 10 people who were wearing those things, stressed out untied their selfs and drowned or were blown against the rocks. Horrible!
When we went out last night… we saw that all the little shops and tents were damaged or totally ruined. Amazing/horrible to see what Mother Nature can do in 30 minutes!
To finish with a ´happy´ end… we are save and the beach club is still there. Today all the shops and restaurants are tied up again. And we are looking forward to start the next course tomorrow.
Cheers,
Jan and Barbara
ps: extra fotos on this site.
