Our Titanic Moment

If you are on facebook, then you already know about this, if not, then maybe you read it here at CNN because it actually made the national news. Maybe you didn't know that we were on the ship that had quite a scare the last day but if you are going on a cruise any time soon (Henry's!), you may want to stop reading this now. I think I need to document this experience but I have been putting it off because there is a fine line between telling my story and retraumatizing myself.

Some of you have asked, so here it goes...

Again, the first four days of our vacation were wonderful - no one in our family even got sick, the weather was fantastic, and the last day (Tuesday) was a relaxing day at sea. We got up early that morning and got the best chairs on the adult only deck, had a great morning riding the big slide, playing mini-golf, reading, etc. We went to eat lunch in the dining area (Keely and Lars stayed behind on the deck) and it was right when we were finished that the ship took a sharp turn.

I was sitting down across from my brother and we both looked at each other when the boat started turning. My first thought was, "why are we turning like this in nothing but open seas?" We were like "whoa!," but then there was a moment when the ship started shaking violently and the boat was leaning too far to one side. My brother and I looked at each other and we knew something was wrong.

We all stood up holding on to the table and looked to the other side of the ship and could see the water. We were fortunate to be closer to the side that was turning upwards. The Titanic Moment was when the plates started crashing (over 3000 broke and shattered) - you could just hear them over and over falling everywhere. It was really scary. People started shouting to go to the side of the boat that was tipping upwards so maybe the weight of the people could balance the ship out. Children started crying clinging to their parents and the panic set in.

David was so calm and went into survival mode... he got behind me and we went to the top of the side of the ship that was up in the air. When we got to a secure place to hold on, I asked David, "Are we going to be okay?" David said, "I don't know." That scared me even more because I knew if he didn't know we were going to be okay, we were in trouble. He steered me away from the crowds and told me to not go near the big groups of people.
At that moment, I looked out into the water and thought to myself, "we could die today." I was not scared of dying as much as I was scared to leave my children without their parents. I thought of Drew and Dilan and I went into survival mode then. I remembered the Titanic where people got into the water and froze because of the freezing waters. I knew we wouldn't die of hypothermia because the waters were not that cold. So, I knew we needed to get into the water at some point and my next thought was that we needed life vests. I wasn't sure how we were going to get those but I knew we had to get into that water when the time came.

It did not feel like the ship was sinking but it felt like the ship was going to capsize, like we were going to turn over. We just waited it out there and thankfully, the ship started balancing itself out.

After we were okay, Keely and Lars found us coming out of the dining room as they were coming to find us. The experience on the deck was very scary for them as well because all of the water in the pool and all the spas came out and started sloshing around the deck. It made it look like the water from the ocean was coming up on the deck because it was leaning so far to one side. Luckily, we had chosen the side of the deck that was going up in the air and not towards the water and Keely and Lars were able to hold on and ride it out.

After it was over, we were all shaken up and literally our hands were shaking and then the tears came as a result of the fear we has just experienced. It was traumatizing and luckily it only went on for several minutes because people would have started jumping if it went on any longer. I was so thankful to be okay and the rest of the day, people could not stop talking about it. We saw people wearing their life vests after that. 60 people were injured, 3 people had to be taken to the hospital when we docked the next morning.

So, the object in the water was a buoy that got detached from where it was supposed to be floating. Maritime law says that if there is something in the water and you don't know what it is, you have to avoid it. The radar did not pick it up on screen so they saw it at the last minute and swerved to miss it. We talked to some of the crew on the ship who had been working cruises for a decade and never had they experienced anything like this before and most likely won't again.

The problem for me was that the rest of the day when the ship leaned or experienced a wave, we grabbed on tightly and waited to see if it was going to be another scare. We didn't sleep well that night, David literally woke up at 5am with his palms all sweaty and we kept looking out our window to see if we had docked yet. I just wanted to get home to my kids.

The Pistorius family won't be cruising again most likely. I know that seems extreme but it is more about going on another ship and having that feeling of danger at any slight wave or anything that makes the ship lean to one side at all. I don't think I'll sign up for a vacation that could bring me back to the moment I thought my life was in danger.

Anyway, it was only one experience on our vacation and not one that defines it - we really did have a great time and looking at all of our pictures and video make me really appreciate the time with our family and with one another. I just think next time we'll fly to a resort and stay there! :)