The New year started with a bang and I'm grateful I got the chance to see my old friends and make new ones. In one of my posts, I wrote that I was invited to a hangout but I was feeling reluctant because going out in Lagos Nigeria requires spending even the transport alone would choke you. But when I thought it and discovered that going to the beach was part of my bucket list, I had to reach out from my savings. All though I kind of went to one before this I can't really count that because I didn't even spend up to an hour there. Here you it guys, my experience at the beach for the first time.
Before I start with the juicy gist, Let me tell you briefly about Tarkwa bay.
According to my research, the beach was uninhabited 19 years ago but was leased by the federal to a private contractor for development and maintenance. Well, I guess the company needs to be awarded as they did nice work transforming the beach.
It is an artificial beach meaning most of the lands just like most of Lagos is, was sand-filled paving the way for expansion. Let's forget about the past and concentrate on the present ojare.
We visited the beach on the 3rd of January 2022. Since we all planned to meet at a particular location before 10 am, I had to leave my house early quite strange since I was going to meet up with a friend at ebute meta so we could get there together. On getting there, this girl hasn't even brushed and I was there thinking that I messed up. Nigeria will be Nigeria with their Africa time.
From 10am, we left Ebute Meta by past 11 and headed straight to the meetup location at costain bustop where we still had to wait for the rest. Deep down, I was starting to regret my coming. At around 11:30 or so, we decided to leave and headed to Marina Victoria Island where we would take a boat to the beach since the beach is an island and only accessible by boat or fairy.
The ticket for a ride is #500 and it takes like 20 mins or so to get from the Marina port to the island. The boat we took was not really stable as it was tumbling and stops every 5 mins leaving us to wonder and pray we get there safely but just in case, we had our life jackets on.
Deep down in me, I was scared like mad but fine girls were there so I didn't want to fall my hand.
Other locations where you can get a ride to the beach are:
The beach became visible 10 mins after we left the harbor. One of the places I saw was a Nigerian Navy barracks and I saw some men driving into the water. I guess it was training or something. Didn't take pictures because Nigerians can be so paranoid before they start thinking I'm a spy for boko haram.
Getting to the bay, we heard there was a little accident so they had to stop halfway for all to come down. We paid #300 for access into the bay and the Naval officers were in charge of this. Even-though we were quite early, we still saw some people there compared to that of Oniru beach where around 1pm the whole beach was empty. Back to Tarkwa bay, we had to look for a hut to rent so we could keep our stuffs and relax if we ever get tired. So we rented the hut by seats we had to go for 6 seats when we were 16. The funniest thing is that we didn't really use the seats as most of us were mostly in the water.
After taking pictures and eating, we decided to head into the water. The guys that have been there before gave me tips on what to do. Let me share one, they said no dull yourself ooooo, you see fine chick grab am well and have fun. As a good guy, I neglected their advice not until while we were playing game in the water a guy took this babe he just met to a secluded side and was talking to her and I was like ahhhhhh
Since I have been in the water for so long and the night was drawing near, I was already shivering so I decided to stroll around the beach with oje of the friends I made already. As we were going round, we decided to stay at an higher ground so we could talk and see the whole beach while talking, gisting and stuffs, we heard aa woman shout "he is drowning" it was so loud that I guess the entire beach heard her. As we looked to her pointing direction, we saw two guys actually drowning. You know what you see in the movies when someone is drowning he tries his best to come up each time well this is true as I saw the guy struggling for life. Before I knew what was happening, some guys drived into the water and started swimming as fast as they could to rescue them as they one of the guys was already giving up on life, one of the drivers was close by so he went in and pulled him out.
Guys it was like a horror movie. I still replay it in my head most times. If I could feel this way, I wonder how the victim must be feeling after the whole incident.
Apparently the guys went with a speed boat to the middle. One with a life jacket and the other without. iI seriously don't know what they were thinking maybe they were playing rough or they thought it wasn't deep I seriously don't know but they so so lucky to have been spotted on time. Just imagine 3 days after the new year. The trauma their parents would go through.
Well we left they beach shortly after the incident not because of what happened but by this time, people were already cold and it was getting dark.
Apart from the accident, I really had fun even though the water was so salty I had fun when it especially when a wave came by.
If you have, feel free to drop your experience in the comment section.
Till my next post,
Keep buzzing
I still remain Trojan
Thanks for stopping by
see yah
