I had an hour before I had to leave Barbados to catch a flight back to nyc. My roomate Assaf and I decided to go for one last swim in the warm Caribbean waters before we left. We walked down to the beach, kicked off our flip flops and ran straight in at full speed.

Within minutes my joy turned to panic as I realized a strong current was pulling me right towards a pier of rocks. While swimming furiously against the current, I turned to Assaf and calmly yelled “uhhhhh help! I’m stuck”. But I was too late.

Before I knew it I was hugging said rocks, and slowly trying to crawl to safety. What I didn’t realize is that these weren’t just ordinary rocks; they were also home to a family of sea urchins. Needless to say, by the time I made it back to the beach, those urchins donated about 50 of their spines to my hands and feet.

Luckily, Winston, the local “rasta doctor” came to my rescue. He spent the remainder of my last hour in Barbados with me, and pulled out each urchin spine, one by one, with a sewing needle.

Ouch.