"LIST OF S#*% I AM TERRIFIED OF DOING"
* Travel to a war-torn country and sleep through an earthquake - Done
* (Re)learn how to surf (or at least, not die on a surf board) - Done
* Handle a spider monkey - Done and done (scars to prove it)
* Re-apply to veterinary school - Should be writing that essay now.... ;)
* Learn how to drive a stick-shift car - Done
* Swim with a Cyanea capillata - working on it...........
WTF is a Cyanea capillata you ask??
Is it faster than a speeding bullet? ... Well, fast enough.
More powerful than a locomotive?? ... Maybe in groups
Able to leap tall buildings at a single bound? Not really...
So what is it that has almost 300 swimmers in a hot panic this weekend?
Meet Cyanea capillata - the Lion's Mane Jellyfish.
Or as it's referred to in the New England area "Oh f#%@"
This weekend marks the 23rd annual SWIM Across the Sound to benefit the St. Vincent's Cancer Center, and my 3rd year as a relay swimmer (working up to the solo swim... eventually...) More about the SWIM and St. Vincent's here
This Saturday I join a group of crazy people who will be up well before dawn and catch the 6am ferry boat from Bridgeport, CT to Port Jefferson, NY. We will then turn around and SWIM back - in my case, PART WAY back, since I will be sharing the 25 K (15 mile) swim distance with 5 other members of a relay team. That's still a lot of swimming, and according to the latest reports, it will be a lot of swimming in a sea of red lion's mane jellies.
Oh, by the way... did I mention that they sting??
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