On the way to Atlantis, the old guy and T are telling us what they do. The old guy claims to be a filmmaker (Porn, maybe? Of course that's me being skeptical, paranoid) and I don't really remember what T said he did. In any case, he had mentioned he owned a club on the island. The entire time we're in the limo, my 6 friends and I are sizing these 2 men up. My friend said she had quick access to an empty champagne bottle if need be!
We spent a little time at Atlantis. T and the old guy stayed there and told us we could use the limo for the night. I relaxed a little. Next we headed to what looked and felt like a local bashment party (If you watched Bobby & Whitney's reality show back then I think this was the same spot Bobby had visited). We didn't stay long.
The next morning, the sun was up, hot and shining bright. I remember one of my girlfriends knocking on our patio door in her bikini telling us to hurry up and get up because the sun was out. We were super excited since it had rained so much the night before.
We spent this day on the beach and parasailing. While on the beach we noticed a small island out on the horizon. I don't recall whose bright idea this was, but we decided to take a banana boat (small yellow inflatable boat attached to the back of a speedboat). For a fee the guys working on the beach said they'd take us. Our plan was to bathe topless (again, the things you do when you're young).
Nevertheless, our ride on the banana boat didn't go as expected. Keep in mind all of us had on life jackets (thank God!) but the majority of us could not swim. Midway through our aquatic journey (somewhere between shouting, fist pumping and some acting as if they were on a mechanical bull), we flipped and went asunder.
It all happened so quickly: There were 4 of us on each side of the boat. One side went down first, in unison. My side went next. I remember feeling like my life was flashing before my eyes (I saw a glimpse of my old neighborhood in the Bronx as I was going down) then thinking "No, this isn't how I'm going out". I floated back up to the top and saw all 7 of my girlfriends splayed about the ocean in different areas. The speedboat had kept going, not knowing we were no longer on board the big yellow banana.
The boat eventually came back around and pulled us all in, one by one. To this day, I'm not sure how I managed to keep my flip flops in my hand through the turmoil, but I did. We continued on to the small island, though the vibe had changed and most of us didn't want to go. We took a few photos looking soggily downtrodden then hopped back onboard the SPEEDBOAT (not the banana boat - though 2 of my brave friends did). We made our way back to the safe sands of the resort.
To be continued!