Go white water rafting

“My first rafting trip began at the ungodly hour of 7 AM on a cold April weekend. The veteran guides watched with barely concealed amusement as we trainees squeezed ourselves into wetsuits and splash-tops, emerging as neoprene-wrapped creatures wearing the bulkiest PFDs available and decidedly unfashionable helmets. Armed with paddles, we loaded onto the bus to face the rapids. [...] The frigid water shocked me back to reality. My PFD popped me to the surface right next to the raft, and I grabbed the perimeter rope. I wasn’t panicking—the raft was right there, it was just water—but apparently my face told a different story. When Todd pulled close to haul me in, he saw my expression and immediately reassured me: “You’re okay, you’re okay. I’ve got you. You don’t need to panic.” My response, delivered through chattering teeth and an annoyed grimace: “I’m not panicking, I’m freezing!” He cracked up laughing. Eventually, he did pull me back in.”

“The water was surprisingly clear, I had expected it to be murky. The banks along the river are lined with canopies of untouched greenery. I was swept away to another world, when I encountered my first rapid! [...] The boat moved fast. With one nudge, it crashed into the rocks. I tumbled and fell face first into the raging water. The current swallowed me under in a spiralling motion. Instead of gasping for air, I was frantically gulping down water. [...] Then I quickly swam towards the boat, the guide held out his paddle and I managed to grab it. He caught hold of my life jacket and swiftly yanked me into the boat. The guides even made a joke out of me and cheekily asked, “How did the water taste like sister? Sweet?” Indeed, I was trembling in fear but I managed to laugh it off because it was amusing.”

“I fell out of a rapid going down a river like this in Colorado, class 3 or 4 rapids. When I go over board I went completely underwater but when I try to come up, I realize I'm underneath the raft. I tried pulling myself along the bottom of it (like they taught us at the start of the trip) but since we're 5 days in to the rafting trip, the bottom is covered in alge or something that I could not get a grip on. Panic sets in and I start to freak the hell out. I remember thinking at any moment I'm going to hit some rocks while underneath this boat and I'll just be dead. I just kept expecting a sudden jolt of impact to end it. I was starting to need air pretty bad, but I don't know how long I was actually under there. I could feel my chest start to hurt and decided to try and not drown so I pushed off the bottom of the boat to get away.”