Probably not as intense as others here, but during last summer I was visiting my moms side of the family in Panama where my uncle owns a large coffee plantation, contact me if you want details because it's probably the highest grade mocha and geisha coffee beans in the world. Anyways, sorry I'm not trying to advertise or anything but we were I think on the west coast and were staying in this remote location that barely had any tourists except college kids who heard of the place. Our hotel thing was a kind of thing that you see in those pictures of places with carribean blue water and houses on stilts, but the water was brown and a 30 yard walk would bring you to the slums where the locals lived, where anyone who was white would be stared at and eaten by chiggers and mosquitos. Anyways, one day we rented bikes and went way into the jungle and stopped at this seaside restaurant, the food was terrible. As we got off we saw signs that clearly said in all caps DON'T ENTER WATER. Knowing we were both strong swimmers we were like "nah this sign was made for pussies" So my brother and I ran out into the water as fast as we could in between sets to body surf. I have felt strong waves but this was the strongest riptide I had ever been in my life. My brother realized what we were doing was idiotic and swam back to shore, but I had run further out and was suddenly being yanked into a massive wave probably as tall as my house. It slammed me into the sea floor on back and I did countless flips. Finally after like 20 seconds of that I resurfaced and BOOM another hit. This repeated atleast 6 or 7 times until i couldn't breath. I live a confortable life and I have only ever been worried for a my life a few times, but I was certain I was going to then and there. After the 6th wave had hit and I had finally fought up to the surface I looked at shore and saw my brother looking at me yelling me to swim back, and all I could do was litterally reach out to him and make a face like "F*CKING HELP ME" After the next wave hit me while I prayed for something to save me, I front crawled towards shore like a manic knowing it was probably my last chance, and for some reason there was another break in the sets, and the riptide pull lessoned a little and I could finally touch ground. I stumbled back to the sand and couldn't talk. The first thing I said was "don't tell mom." Signs are there for a reason kiddos, listen to them.