My husband, children, my parents, my in-laws and I spent the day on Lake Mohave yesterday.just like we have every year for the past few years. But nothing about yesterday turned out like ever before (nor would I ever like to see anything like it again).
It was about 1-ish and we’d just finished lunch and the grandpa’s, my hubby and son wanted to go find a cove to fish in, but my daughter and the grandma’s just wanted to relax. So, I went with the boys to lay on the back of the boat and tan! We were out for about a half hour when all the sudden this big cloud was above us and we decided that we should head back. Just as the guys pulled their lines out of the water, the wind picked up a bit. I was worried because my mom’s back is in such bad shape and the e-z-up would be needing some attention so it wouldn’t break. As we came around the bend into the main part of the lake the white caps were about 2 feet high. The wind really picked up and boy was I scared for us, but more for my daughter and mom. I knew my mother-in-law would be ok, but my mom’s back couldn’t handle all the moving of things to keep them in place nor would she be able to deal with it all and my daughter’s nerves. By the time we got back to the cove they were in, the wind was so bad that it was blowing sand and it stung when it hit you, so my mom was hunching over my daughter to block the wind.they both had something covering their heads and were holding onto the side of the easy up. But somehow they had the intuition to take the cover off the easy up before the wind picked up too badly.
When we got the boat closer to shore we realized that this was going to be a big problem. The boat was being forced ashore sideways (which is bad) and all the sea-do’s and boats in the cove were all being pushed inward too.which was at us! I had to get my son off the boat and to my mom, cover them with some towels and then start helping the group by us get their sea-do’s ashore so they didn’t start hitting our boat or get in the way of the boats needing out of the cove. Once the craziness started, my husband, dad, and father-in-law were taking care of the boat with the help of some other men and eventually my father-in-law was able to get into the boat and with the help of the other men, get it back out to the middle of the lake. It was scary to watch him out there.at one point the waves were bouncing our little 18′ Bayliner so hard that we saw the whole bottom of the boat out of the water, but THANK GOD.the boat was unscathed. After about a half hour of getting things organized in the craziness, my husband swam (against my better judgment) out to the boat WITHOUT a lifejacket! He got on fine, but boy was I nervous. Oh, yes.during the craziness, lightening started and I had to move my mom and kids away from the e-z up and away from anything that could be hit. With the lightening getting worse, my husband and father-in-law decide that they need to get the kids, mother-in-law and my mom off the lake since the storm isn’t letting up and the kids were so scared. Since they can’t get the boat too close to shore so it doesn’t end up beached, they throw off all the lifejackets and tell me the kids and both grandmas are going to have to swim out in the huge waves and get on board.OMG you should have seen my face. I was not really happy about it, but really not sure that there was another option. So I watched as my mom and son first swam out in the rough waters to the boat. Thank goodness my son is light enough that my husband was able to pick him up out of the water by the lifejacket and get him safely into the boat. Then watching my poor mom struggle to get up the ladder with her sore back and rough water bouncing her and the boat around.but she did get up safely. Then the boat headed out to reposition itself so it didn’t get stuck too close to shore. Next, it was my mother in law and daughter’s turn to swim out to the boat. I was more comfortable this time until my father in law was yelling at my daughter to grab the rope since she was having trouble getting close enough to get the ladder.but she couldn’t grab the rope because her flip flops were on her hands so she had shoes to wear when they got to the docks. She did finally get up and so did my mother in law. They got them back to the docks (where apparently the wind and waves were mild since it was protected by the angle of the mountain around it. The kids and both moms went back to my in-laws to clean up and rest. Then the boat came back for me and my dad. We just had to leave all of our stuff on the shore and get to safety. The rain was starting to come down and there was still lightening all around. It was very hard to want to leave our e-z up and barbecue, but they were things and could be replaced. Once back to the marina, we were able to tie the boat up with no problems. The dad’s went to my in-laws to get everybody situated and then my hubby and I had dinner in the restaurant in the marina and wait for the storm to pass to go get all of our stuff. After we finished eating, we were able to go get everything picked up and get off the water safely.
I can seriously say it was an experience I’d never like to be able to have again! The kids are not scared to go out on the boat again (which is good since we have a trip to Havasu planned in a week) and understand that sometimes weird things happen that are out of our control. We told them that we were thankful that they stayed calm and listened to directions so well. And thanks to everyone around, nothing bad was seen by my kids! =)