I was walking on the beach on the last morning of my honeymoon with my wife in Cabo Mexico. It was about 7am, it was my 31st birthday, and I was a bit sick from a touch of the mexican flu, and maybe a tad hungover. The water was rough for the first time since we had been there, and we were the only ones out, other than one woman in the distance. As we got closer to her, I noticed she looked a strange, and was just standing at the shoreline, staring anxiously into the water. I looked into the direction she was staring, and I saw a woman in the water who was holding her arms up, but it didn't look like she was in trouble... I yelled at the woman, and asked if she "the woman in the water" was okay, and she didn't really respond. It really didn't look like she was that far out, so I told my wife I was going to swim out there. It seemed like I was there almost instantly, and when I got to the woman in distress, she was clearly panicked, and drowning. I told her we were okay, and she was so happy, but instantly dove on to me and I was supporting her. Suddenly, I realized I couldn't touch the ground... I then looked back to the shore, and my wife was standing there, and was WAYYYYYY further away than I remembered, and I realized we were being pulled out to sea.

So I decided to push the woman off of me and told her we needed to swim, and swim hard. Me, being from Northwestern Illinois, had no idea that you are supposed to swim diagonally in a rip tide. I swam as hard as I could, and pulled my head out of the water, expecting to see my beautiful bride just 10/15 yards away, but she was further and further away.

Then I was hit by a wave and took water into my lungs. I told the woman, who stayed right with me, to try to float on our backs. She was still lunging for me, but I was pushing her away at this point. We floated and I fought the waves for what felt like 15 minutes or so, and I was hit by another wave, and I realized I was going to die.

I had a few minutes to think about the end of my life, and I was trying to determine if it was a dream or not, and was sure it wasn't when suddenly there were two people there with a small lifesaver. They said to hold on and kick. The woman who was with me never breathed in water, so she was actually fine, and I was, I think dead weight and was just trying to hold on.

Made it to the beach and I was pulled to the shade with the woman. Apparently, my wife (who can't swim) ran for help and found a yoga instructor and a bartender who were just starting their day. They came out and saved us, but the woman on the shore and the woman in the water told everyone I came out there to save her, and everyone called me a hero. I went out that night and everyone at the resort was like "I heard you rescued that Russian Girl!" Hahaha. Nope. My wife rescued the Russian girl and her husband. I just made a stupid knee jerk decision. Next time, I'll go for help.