WORDS AMANDA PHOTOGRAPHY MAX SCHUMANN
As I stood on my tiptoes with the waves aggressively carrying me further away from the shore, I felt like I was like looking at the world through several Instagram filters… varying shades of blue and moonlight teasing the hazy silhouettes of docked boats. The outline of our hotel in the distance was just enough to convince me it was reality.
I could hear muffled shouts of concern from my adventure buddies. It was nighttime, I’d been drinking rum, and I was in the North Sea off the coast of Denmark. This is no doubt a regular occurrence for many of the locals, but for me it was quite new. I’ve been scared of the sea for most of my adult life. Although I don’t have some far-fetched tale of a near shark attack or a jellyfish encounter, I’d just developed a huge anxiety around open water. Yet there I was trusting the water to take me wherever it wanted, with only the moon providing any light.