I
know the job of lifeguarding well, as it paid my way through
university. Not all lifeguard jobs are alike. Different skills for
different conditions and different degrees of difficulty and physical
exertion are required. My admiration goes out to those guarding the
beaches and saving lives in the oceans of Australia and South Africa,
especially as they have sharks to contend with as well as drowning
people. Once I was surfing in Durban, South Africa, and noticed the
lifeguards were on the beach, waving us in, and all the other swimmers
had exited the water because a shark had entered below the shark net,
into the swimming area. I'm not sure I'd want to be responsible for
saving human lives while there are deadly sharks competing with me.
In
the middle of the degree of difficulty scale are those guarding jobs
over less tumultuous bodies of water, like lakes, rivers, and bays
where as a lifeguard you have currents and/or muddy, murky waters where
rescues may be frequent or search and rescues are hampered due to the
conditions and lack of ability to see below the surface. On crowded
hot summer days I recall trying so hard to focus on how many people
were out there, and pray I didn't "not see" someone go under. Rescues
that stressed me out most were the drunk men who swam out far beyond
their ability to make it back, and when you go to rescue them, they try
to hold themselves up while submerging me. Those are the guys who
would get the "hair tow" rescue back in, and then be escorted out of
the lake area by local park police.
On
the lower end of the adrenaline rush factor for guarding jobs, is the
spa or university pool early morning lap swim session, where as a
guard, you could easily read a book while doing your job. I had
several of these jobs in university as well, and I got a lot of
homework done while getting paid.
The
cush lifeguard job that takes the cake, however, scores points for the
following factors: 1) glamorous ocean beach setting, 2) opportunity
for a deep, dark golden tan, 3) lifeguards are seen as surf beach gods
by patrons, 4) responsibilities include serving up cappuccinos and
espressos at the beach bar, sitting with local patrons and indulging in
caffeine and conversation while working on a tan. This is the job of
the Portugal lifeguard in the Algarve. We've even seen them in charge
of collecting money and managing the sunbeds and umbrellas (which are
300 meters from the water line). These guys strut their stuff around
the beach bar, looking fit and tan, but never once did we see them go
into the water, let alone even glance at anyone in the water. Once at
the beach in Carrapateira we saw two guards carrying off a piece of
driftwood from the beach, that's the most physical exertion we've seen
of any lifeguard here. Granted, this observation is limited to the
beaches we've been on in Portugal - Lagos, Salema, Sagres- Pria do
Tonel, Pria do Martinhal, Carrapateira- Pria do Borderia, Pria de
Arrifana, Pria Monte Clerigo and Pria de Amoreira, Pria de Odeceixe,
Zambujeira do Mar, and Pria do Farol. I'm sure there are other beaches
in Portugal where lifeguards have the real responsibility of watching
the surf and saving lives. We just haven't seen it yet while traveling
here.
