As many of you already know, I have a debilitating fear of sharks (and every other unfriendly thing in the water). So as a general rule, I only go into bodies of water when I can see absolutely everything around me. I’m talking about the crystal-clearest of waters. Unfortunately, the Mediterranean Sea didn’t meet my ridiculously strict criteria. Our hotel sat high above a cliff and there were stairs leading down to the water. But there wasn’t an actual beach there where you could slowly inch your way into the water. It was all or nothing. Jump in and chance death (#dramaqueen) or miss out on my first opportunity to swim in the Mediterranean Sea. What is a terrified girl to do?

Not only was there no way to gradually enter the water, but the water was also pretty choppy, further reducing my ability to see any approaching predators. But I had to buckle down and do this. I had to be able to legitimately say that I swam in the Mediterranean Sea. So I armed Rob with the camera and begged him to take the picture as soon as I got in the water so that I could literally get right back out. But Rob decided this was a good opportunity to torture me a bit, so he pretended the camera was malfunctioning just to keep me in the water longer. This went on for what felt like an eternity to me, but was probably closer to 30 seconds. But I did it, I swam in the Mediterranean Sea! You probably can’t tell from this photo, but behind that forced smile, I was petrified and my heart was pounding out of my chest. As soon as I was certain that Rob had captured the photographic evidence, I was right back on land where humans naturally belong. Phew!

Side note: Rob would have felt eternal guilt had I been attacked by a shark while he was dilly dallying with the camera!

After surviving what could have been my brush with death, I promptly left the sea and headed for much calmer waters…..that’s right….the hotel pool! Notice the not-so-forced smile below.