The Water to Freedom by Eric Murray

​After getting scorched by the sun all day my uncle and I thought of a good way to cool off.  We had been sitting on a beach in the Cape and it was time for a change of scenery.  This beach we were on had a channel next to it, and on the far side there was a private beach that was on hotel property.  We had both looked over at it and had the same idea.  There was a dock off the beach that cuts straight into the channel.  Also, near the dock, there is a large pipe that has a walking path of sand going over it.  This pipe is like a bridge that allows people to walk over rocks that line the jetty.  Also besides creating an easy walking space, the pipe brings water into a nearby pond (that is behind the beach in its own space, kind of like a swamp) from the ocean.  We both stood up and knew what had to be done. We jumped into the pond and started swimming towards the pipe.  We swam through the large silver pipe, fighting the current of the wild ocean water that was rushing in.  It was fairly shallow water inside and we had enough room to breathe.  The hard part was keeping your feet up so the crabs didn’t bite them.  Soon after a tiresome swim we were onto the other side of the tube.  We casually floated to the dock that was calling us near. Then we pulled ourselves up onto the dock and out of the ocean water.  Once we were up, we took a minute to catch our breath and think about what we just did.  
​“Did we really just do that?” I asked while sucking in three large breaths of air.  
​“Yeah, I can’t believe it either, c’mon let’s keep goin’ while we have some energy left.”
​“Okay I’ll go first.”
​“After you.”  My uncle says while pointing to the end of the dock.  
Then I sprinted the length of the dock and jumped as far into the channel as possible.  I was a flying squirrel gliding through the air.  Splash!  I landed in the water violently.  I then turned to see my uncle right behind me also in the water.  We timed it to wait until there were no boats crossing of course, and then we rushed to swim across to the other side of the channel.  I felt like Michael Phelps swimming as hard as I could so I could get past before a boat came.  Minutes later my uncle and I dragged our exhausted bodies up onto the beach that started it all.  We were there.  This was the beach that no one dared to go to.  It was a nice beach with a playground at the entrance of the hotel.  After looking around and seeing where we were, we slowly walked to the swings at the playground.  We sat on those swings, relaxed, and enjoyed the view.  
​“We did it.” I said quietly.
​“Yep, we’re here.”
After enjoying the view for a little while we wandered around the beach looking for cool stuff to find.  We just walked around like we owned the place and no one bothered us about being there.  This was a great way to cool off on an extremely hot afternoon.  Also this was the first time my uncle and I had done something really fun and adventurous together.  I felt like I really got to know him a lot better from this once boring afternoon to one I’ll never forget.