Bonnie Hancock

We were 500k out in the ocean and

This is waters known for killer whales and great white sharks.

And I remember also looking down at my feet while I was there with that sense of calm and seeing a blue light.

And later we think that I was concussed in seeing that because there was no blue light out there.

So really scary stuff to happen in the middle of the ocean.

Yeah, relieved, first of all.

The elation came later.

The first thing I did when I literally sunk my feet into the sands of Door Island, which was this island off of the coast of New South Wales, of Western Australia, beg your pardon, I sunk to my knees and I just felt so relieved and then

When I got on the boat, I gave all of my crew a big hug.

But I remember going down to my cabin and locking the door, shutting the door and checking the lock.

And I just sunk down and started sobbing because it was just all of the fear and doubt and everything I'd had to overcome for two weeks coming out.

And I hadn't felt that it was the right thing to do to let all that go in those moments of paddling across for two weeks because you've got to keep yourself in a pretty neutral state of mind as an ultra endurance athlete.

You can't actually let your emotions get the better of you.

And so it was the first time I did that and the tears just kept coming.

The next day it was a time to celebrate and we went into the island and there were seals around.

We climbed to the top of the island.

It was this sunset and moonrise.

And when people ask me what my favorite day of the trip was, other than finishing, it was that day on Door Island because it was a reward for surviving, but surviving together and getting through it.

Absolutely.

When I first pulled up the map of Australia in planning for this paddle when I decided to do it, I'd put it on satellite mode and I went over to Western Australia and