As it was one of my last few days in Dulan and the surf wasn’t good, we decided to have some fun on the water with SUPs! Yong Yi, the manager of the hostel I have been volunteering at, and I took the stand-up paddle boards to the beach for a 3km down-wind paddle.
When we got to the beach, there wasn’t much wind at all. Gonna be a little more tiring than we thought, but that didn’t stop us. The weather was your typical cloudy, overcast, winter weather. But that is nothing to complain about when the temperature is around 70 degrees Fahrenheit.
We paddled from the point at Cape Cafe south to the Jiamuzi Bay, about 3km. It was totally further than 3km, even Yong Yi would agree with me, but whatever.
It was so incredibly flat, like gliding across glass. About half way down our down-wind paddle (more like non-existent wind paddle) we decided to practice our free diving skills. Free diving is something I suck at, but want to be good at more than anything. It is such a useful skill to have. I wanna work at improving it to improve my surfing, and also so I can go spear-fishing and catch some dinner. Yong Yi says she isn’t that good at it, but she’s quite the fibber. She had me fooled, that’s for sure. 
The number one thing I love about Taiwan, is water. Most people ooh and ah over the crystal clear waters of the Caribbean, but I think it is just so generic. Don’t get me wrong, one of the main reasons I lived in the Caribbean for a couple of months was because of the color of the water. But, in Taiwan it is much different. It is so blue, and not your average turquoise blue. It is a deep blue, a blue that has secrets. It is a mysterious blue that you never really know what to expect out of it.
I have really connected with the ocean in Taiwan. Every time I am surfing, I open my eyes under water because it is my favorite view in the entire world. No matter what I am doing under the ocean here, my eyes are open. In Taiwan in the winter, you don’t normally have to share the ocean with anybody else. If you do, it is with under a handful of people. This is due to two factors:
One- it is winter, so not as many people are traveling through Taiwan. Although the weather may be overcast, the water temperature is still 77 degrees Fahrenheit.
Two- In the Taiwanese culture, the beach isn’t as glorified as it is in the western side of the world. The Taiwanese people believe that evil spirits live in the water, and the take children away every year (children drowning). About forty to fifty years ago, it was actually illegal to partake in any activities on the shore, due to conflicts with China. It is even said that there were some mines planted on the beach. Many of the Taiwanese fishermen don’t even know how to swim.
After our free diving practice, we paddled further south. We saw something poke its adorable little head out of the water. It was a turtle, and it was so close to us! A few minutes later we saw another, and another. Then, we saw what looked like a turtle’s arm flopping around the water. We paddle closer to get a better look. Aw, would ya look at that! Good ole piece of trash floating in the water.
It is heart breaking to see trash floating around the water, especially after noticing a couple of turtles who could potentially be threatened by that piece of trash. Unfortunately countries that aren’t as developed have major waste issues. In Taiwan, it is often very difficult to find a trashcan. You can be carrying your soggy, post-devour dumplings box that has soy sauce oozing out the side of it for thirty minutes in the city before you see one trashcan. This has to be a main factor of their trash problem. It is so sad, because it seems like such a minuscule fix. 
We approach a large rock towards the end of our paddle and obviously the first thought in my mind is jumping off of it. So we paddle over, I take my leash off and push my SUP to Yong Yi. I swim over to the rock, where the waves are smashing up against it and start to climb. Slip some shoes into your wetty if you plan to do this; the rock is pretty sharp and manage to put some cuts into my feet. Yong Yi paddles around to the other side with both boards and waits for me to climb over to the other side of the rock.
I get up to the top, trying to keep my eyes locked on the mountains in front of me and not the drop below me. Why does it always look 3x as high when you’re about to jump. I get the okay from Yong Yi to jump.
For the first time ever, I jump instantly. Within thirty seconds of making my way up to the top, I jump. Normally, I look around, psych myself out a little bit, contemplate my life- you know, all the usual things people do before jumping off high rocks. This time, it was like I had no fear. Literally nothing. I still had the adrenaline, and the falling feeling that I just love so much. But, no fear. 
I do not think that I didn’t have the fear of jumping. I think I didn’t feel the fear because I realized it was a mental thing. I wasn’t scared of hurting myself, I wasn’t scared of not making it to the water. I think what people are afraid of is the commitment to jump. Once you step foot off that ledge, the fear vanishes. People are afraid of the initial commitment.
Traveling is very similar. People are terrified of the initial click to purchase a flight; they will spend months looking at one specific flight because they don’t know if they want to make the commitment to do it or not. Then once you step foot off that ledge, once you book that flight, fear instantly disappears. It is like you suddenly trust that the universe will take care of the rest, and it always does. 
I think the reason I had no fear this time was because I was so comfortable with that feeling from traveling alone. It is a lifestyle that constantly keeps you out of your comfort zone, mentally. So when something puts you out of your comfort zone physically, like jumping off of a rock, it seems like a walk in the park. You are no longer scared of the physical aspect of things because you know you’re mentally strong enough to get yourself through it.
After a couple of jumps off the rock, we paddled into Jiamuzi Bay for some stand up paddle yoga. Two of my favorite things ever, combined! We did our slow and a bit shaky sun salutations. We even tried some harder poses like head stands and crow pose. We pretty much both mastered the crow pose, for real though. Poster status, I’d say. I struggled with the most basic poses that I thought I mastered on flat ground. I could not do Warrior 2 for the life of me; every singe time I would try, I would fall into the water. I don’t understand how I could do a head stand no problem, but couldn’t stand sideways on a dang stand up paddle board.
The entire morning was absolutely perfect, totally something I could get used to doing every single day. I could really get used to this Taiwanese lifestyle. But, I have set out to travel. So I must continue to move forward.