𝙄𝙙𝙚𝙖𝙨, 𝙎𝙝𝙤𝙧𝙩 𝙎𝙩𝙤𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙨 𝙖𝙣𝙙 𝙀𝙨𝙨𝙖𝙮𝙨

A New Tide [ESSAY]

[The destruction of the oceans is everyone's concern.]

My name is Allie Blue and I am now sixteen years old. But this story is about my past, one decade ago, when I had just turned six. The first day I went on a boat. But before I tell you about that, you need to know how I got there.

My dad was a sailor, and a great one at that. The very best in my opinion. He had a boat named Princess Riptide. He worked as a fisherman in the week, but on the weekends, he would go out sailing every Saturday and sometimes on Sundays too. He used to tell me stories about his favorite times at sea. Out of all of the stories he ever told me, my favorite one was the one about his first time being on a boat when he was young. That was the story that made me want to go out sailing with him.

"It was my friend's dad's boat," he began his story, "and it was named Pearl Dust Adventures." I giggled at the name and saw my dad smile. "My friend insisted that I come out with him one day," He paused with a reminiscent look upon his face, paired with a longing smile.

"It was beautiful at sea that day. The water was warm and the clearest I have ever seen it. If you had looked up, you wouldn't have seen a cloud in the sky. It was hot outside but from the second we started moving, with the wind blowing my hair back, I think it could have been hot enough to cook an egg outside and I wouldn't have complained," he paused, letting me imagine that day of the past.

Then he continued, "When we were miles away from the shore, my friend's dad grabbed him and me and pointed out a disturbance in the mostly flat water." He lowered his voice for effect, "The boat slowly moved closer and there it was," He said, a smile growing on his face, "A dolphin. It swam right up to the side of the boat and bumped its head into it a few times and made a strange clicking noise," he nudged his head into my shoulder, making a funny noise with his teeth and his tongue causing me to laugh to no end.

"I want a pet dolphin!" I  told him through my giggles.

"Sunshine," he used my nickname, "if I could, I would get you one, but that wouldn't be fair to the poor creature. We need to let them be free. Should I continue my story?" he asked me, already knowing the answer.

"Yes, yes, yes!" I said eagerly.

So he continued with his story and when he finally ended his tale of playing in the deep ocean waves with the pod of dolphins, I was completely awestruck. When I finally surfaced from my vision of a perfect day out on a boat, swimming my own pod of dolphins, the first I did was ask my dad when I could go sailing. He told me no, claiming that I wasn't old enough.

"But I am old enough!" I protested. "I can read lots of hard, big words and I can even make my bed without creases! Bianca can't make beds as good as I can and she is older than me by seven months! Please can you take me?"

But his answer stayed the same. So, every day after hearing about the wonders of the ocean, I would ask him to take me with him and every time he would tell me,

"Not until you are at least six, Sunshine. When you are six, if you still want to come, then I promise to take you with me, sailor's honor."

So on the day of my six birthday, I asked my dad to take me with him. He was hesitant at first, but when I brought up his 'sailor's honor' he immediately agreed to bring me along. I am sure I have never gotten ready for something quite as quickly as I did that morning. I remember jumping around the kitchen with the biggest grin on my face as I pulled on my swimsuit and threw a big shirt over my head.

When my dad was finally ready to go we left the house and I ran as quickly as I could down the path in our back yard until I reached the small dock where my dad kept Princess Riptide. There was another man already there leaning against the Princess. He was the man my dad worked with when he was fishing. His name was Jonothan but I called him Uncle Jonny, even though we weren't related.

I sat on the side of the little dock as my dad and Uncle Jonny got the Princess ready, with my feet dangling a few feet away from the water. I looked down at the water and saw it wasn't too clear, in fact, it was muddy and full of little pieces of trash and garbage.

7/10/2020