: I brought my surfing booties with me to the Philippines and wear
: them whether surfing or kayaking. You never know when you will
: end up on the coral.

: Shark

I usually take the shoes off for paddling, but I wanted to go over a reef and surf some small waves so I decided to wear my Tevas just in case. Lucky thing. I didn't even make it to that reef. Took a spill in the rock garden and ended up in the surf zone. It was UGLY... and to make it worse, it happened by some ocean side apartments where many of my friends live. They were on the balconies watching me. One actually got the paddle from shore when it washed up and threw it out to me. The beach was very rocky and the waves break at the beach so it's no place to try to land. I am just glad I carry a storm paddle, but I did learn that a storm paddle does little good trying to get out of surf. I will now carry TWO GP's and a storm paddle.

That was three weeks ago. I still have sea urchin spines in my feet. The Tevas worked well on the bottom, but they got my toes. Some urchins here have spines as long as 10". One of those punctured my toe and went sideways through the skin about 3" and came out, leaving a huge open wound. My biggest fear is that one day I'll roll and hit my head on one and put an eye out. And mom was worried about me running with scissors!