I was on the beach in South Africa's "Wild Coast". Some friends and I saw dolphins swimming in the waves so we rushed in to try swim with them.

I should have been suspicious at how quickly I managed to swim out. We really did swim with these dolphins though which was incredible. But my friends were both frequent swimmers and surfers and water polo players, while I prefer running. I got tired and told them I was swimming back.

But as I was swimming it felt like the shore kept getting further away, and the waves were quite big so I kept losing sight of the beach altogether. I got really scared since I was exhausted and wasn't getting anyway and only then realized I was in a riptide.

I only vaguely remembered what to do (you're supposed to swim horizontal to the shore) so I started swimming backstroke diagonally towards it. I really thought I wouldn't make but I gave everything I had and was encouraged when I started getting closer.

I tried to explain to my friends that I thought I was going to die (they swam back in a few minutes later without much effort since they had experience with riptides). I got a tiny bit of sympathy 😅 Thought about it constantly for weeks, but I'm good now and still swim in the sea. Have read shitloads about riptides!