Turtle Island all dressed up to go nowhere at all

the bedraggled girl hauled herself onto the miserable huddle of rock, forelimbs quaking as she pulled against the sucking weight of the water. low whimpers left her muzzle with every breath, until finally she made it onto the wretched rock and her limbs all but collapsed beneath her. the yearling huddled near the edge of the fridgid rock, and the single, aged shorebird catapulted itself into flight the moment its home was invaded. her limbs ached and burned after her fierce battle against the riptide; this was not Undersea. Sunny had accompnied her to the shore some days ago, until she'd claimed she'd be alright and set off to the coast, in the general direction they'd indicated. she'd spotted this isle from the cliffs, and spent a day trying to navigate the logisitcs of her approach. 

needless to say, swimming towards the first island she'd seen did not go well. not halfway there, limbs searching for the landbridge she was sure should exist, and uncertainty growing when she couldn't yet make out any trees, some current had pulled suddenly and violently at her sodden frame. her midlength, feathery coat already seemed to be trying to drown her, and it had taken all her strength to fight the current. the rock she huddled on now was about 50 meters from the main island she'd seen from the shore, but she saw no point and no way to make it there. the sun had reached it's peak some time ago, and the terror of spending the night on this rock allowed her enough energy to pull herself upright and h*wl all her fear into the emptiness all around, where surely the waves would drown the sound as they had tried to drown her.