(written by Cait)
Finding Way to Reclusive Beach Attempt #1: Fail Final Score: Spiders:1 Cait: 0
A quote from the losing side, “Well played, Spiders. Well played.”
Brad and I first saw the small, isolated beach on Lamma Island in April while hiking on the Family Trail. We were on the top of a mountain/hill a little bit off the paved trail, but not far from a beaten path. The whole reason we were off the paved trail was because I had to pee and I wanted a little privacy, since there were no public bathrooms around.
This time on my own, I was determined to find a way to the beach. I took the same path as before and found a clear path leading down the mountain. With high confidence, I climbed down the rocky path. I could see a party boat floating in the small bay. As I went down, I saw a couple guys preparing to go ashore in a little floating raft. There goes having the beach to myself, but oh well. It was a fairly short way down, when the path abruptly became covered in vegetation.
On my way to the hard to reach beach. It’s going to be great!
It was a dark tunnel of small trees and brush, and I plowed ahead without hesitation. That was my first wrong move. Within moments, I walked straight into a spider web. Then I was surrounded by a swarm of butterflies. Or maybe a flock of butterflies…whatever they’re called, it was disturbing. They were everywhere! Flying into me and on the ground; I didn’t want to hurt them but it was almost impossible if I wanted to continue walking. I slowed my pace, then walked right into another web. What do you do when you walk into a spider web? Swing your arms around like an ape and swat at invisible strands of web. As soon as I finished with one web, I’d walk right into another. This pattern repeated itself for about 30 feet…I hope you have a good mental image of this. I probably looked like a clueless kung fu student. Suddenly, I stopped dead in my tracks. I can’t tell you what made me do it, but I thanked my lucky stars. I was inches away from walking face first into another web, but this time a black spider the size of my palm was on the web at eye level.
That was a close call! You play a hard game, spider.
The vegetation was very thick, but I went off the trail to avoid the spider and then stopped short of an identical web and spider blocking my way. This happened four times before I gave up. The trail had split in two, and I had no idea which way to go. Alone, legs itching with bug bites, and frustrated, I said out loud to my competitors, “Fine! You win this time spiders, but we’re not over!”
When I reached the top of the hill I had just come down, I looked back at the beach. Three of those guys from the party boat were splashing around on the shore. I shook my head in jealousy and mumbled to myself, “lucky bastards. I bet you don’t appreciate that beach like I would!” I later told my friend who lives on Lamma this story, and he replied, “Yeah, get yourself a spider stick!” Then demonstrated with a pretend stick how I could cut down the webs. I imagine knocking a web down, the spider disappears, only to have landed on my head. I’m bringing Brad as my weapon on my next attempt to reach that beach. Game on, spiders!