The 8 of us got on a 51’ yacht, and went out on the Caribbean Sea. The water was crystal clear turquoise, and it looked like the sea floor was right there, even though it varied between 10’ and 30’. You had no depth perception on it. Our first stop was a shallow area that was populated with a ton of friendly stingrays. They would swim right up to you, brush against you, let you feed them and hold them and pet them, gently. When I jumped off the boat, I saw everyone standing in water just up to their waist, so I figured I could touch bottom. Instead I went under and got a face of salt water I wasn’t expecting. I’m glad I didn’t bring my phone, because I almost did! Lol. I swam over and found the shallow area, and the stingrays were all around. They were softer than I expected. They would make me jump when they sneaked up behind me and brushed against me, but it was definitely pretty fascinating watching them swim around you, bump up to you. They were huge, many of them, a couple feet across.
We got back in the boat, and I had time to dry off a little in the 86 degree day on the boat ride over to the next stop, which was a reef area. One side, our side, of the reef, it was 15-30’ deep at most. On the other side of the reef, it dropped off to over 8000’ deep, a thought that horrified me. I don’t want anything to do with water that deep, or anything that lives in it.
They were there to go scuba diving. I’ve never been in my life, and I have this problem with stuff on my face and head. Remember I had to sit on my living room couch for several evenings in a row wearing my helmet so I could get used to it for the T-6. I started off putting it on and ripping it back off. I feel super trapped and claustrophobic. They put the mask on me and cranked it down, and it covers your nose, and you can’t breathe out of your nose at all, and I really hated that. I finally get that under control, and I put in the mouth piece and I’m breathing through that okay, but the second I put my face in the water, I’m holding my breath, sucking air in through the tube too fast, pulling my face back out…leaving in the mouth piece and hyperventilating through it. The kids are in the water no problem, and I’m out there on the struggle bus. Lol. I almost got back out, but it made me mad, because this is probably a once in a lifetime opportunity. I’m 51 and never been able to do anything like that before, and I hate that my own brain is my biggest problem. I’m also 50, flabby, and white as a sheet, with a family of young, fit, healthy, tan people, WHO I WORK FOR, so getting in a swimsuit in front of them also took a lot for me. But again. How many times in my life am I going to get to do this? So I did. And parts of it were hard. But it was worth it. The group started off swimming away. I’m also not a super strong swimmer, so I hesitated, thought maybe I’d stay by the boat. I asked how far they were going, and the guy on the boat said “Just to that other boat area”. I looked and thought…okay, I can do that. I was way behind by then, but I caught up. I kept getting water in my nose, so one guy came over and tightened my mask. I kept getting salt water in my mouth and trying to spit it out, while treading water. One guy yelled from the boat and asked me if I was okay. I was still struggling, but I was okay enough. After everything got tightened up, and I was able to relax, then it changed. That’s where I saw the giant eel coming out of the coral below us. I saw Dori fish and schools of colorful fish swimming along next to me. I even saw a big barracuda hovering down there. I learned later you’re not supposed to wear gold because the barracudas will go after it. Three of us were wearing gold chains. Oops. lol. So once I got my breathing slowed down and under control, along with slowing down my spinny brain thinking bad thoughts, I was able to float along with my face in the water and my snorkle up and just look into that other world. It’s pretty amazing.
When I got out, everybody was congratulating me and telling me great job, and that mostly embarrassed me because I knew it was something that was no big deal to any of them, it was easy, and I made it hard, and congratulating the fat old lady for getting in the water and swimming around…that’s when you know you ARE getting old, when you get people clapping for you for doing something basic and surviving it. ;) But I’m still glad I did it.
Next up the boat went to another cove, where there are star fish, jellyfish, and turtles. And a jet ski. I didn’t feel the need to get back in for that. We used to own a jet ski, and the star fish (Sea Stars, technically, since they aren’t fish), were neat to see from above anyway. The swimming wiped me out. The fins were hard on your calves, and that was some good exercise all in all, swimming for that long, when I’m not used to either swimming OR exercise. lol
The four-man crew that was on the yacht with us, they were all from different countries. The captain was from Africa. One from England, Costa Rica, and Venezuela. Great accents, great personalities. When we left, they all hugged most of us. I like hand shakes better, but they were nice, and they really helped out with Atley, took him scuba diving and jet skiing too, and they were patient and kind. Afterwards they wanted a photo with him, because they wanted to tell their “entitled kids” about a young man with severe disabilities who is happy, doesn’t let it stop him from trying things, and is grateful.
We watched the sunset on the boat, then came on in and had dinner at a nearby place—a fish sandwich that was quite good. We all fell into bed early this night, I’ll tell you that much.
;)
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