The boat came to a sudden stop, causing me to dump my orange juice all over my lap.
Not thinking about the mess I mad, I skipped over to the railing of the boat; dropped my mouth wide open and starred.

Palm trees, colorful birds, white sand on the beaches, and blue crystal water was all I saw for miles down the coast of Mexico. It was the most beautiful sight I had ever seen.

As I was drooling over the view, my sister pulled on my shirt saying, “Come on, we’re about to get off the boat.”

I smiled and replied, “Okay, I’m coming!”

I don’t think I can take this much longer. I thought to myself, as we were going through all of the security people, detectors, and machines. Thankfully, that thought left my mind in a flash when I saw the “WELCOME TO MEXICO” sign. However, when I stepped under that sign, that thought came right back to mind.

There were tens if not hundreds of Mexicans coming up to you; trying to get people to buy their product, rent their gear, or just to get your money. It was so loud, that I couldn’t hear myself think.

Earlier, before we got off the boat, my family and I all decided that we wanted to go snorkeling. Luckily, my mom and dad knew just who to go to, because they had gone snorkeling in Mexico the year before.

Once we paid the man, that my parents knew, we got our gear, and hopped on the old, stinky, non-air conditioned van and were on our way to Chankanaab.
As soon as I stepped foot into the van, I prayed that it wouldn’t be long, but sure enough, it was a forty-five minute ride. And I despised every second of that, until the van stopped and the driver opened my door.

I jumped out as fast as I could, and ran over to the sandy beach. While everyone else in my family was taking their time, I dropped down on my knees and started to play with the sand.

Finally, after the rest of my family came over we went and settled down under a palm tree, which had four tropical lawn chairs, in the shade of the tree.

Me and my brother, Chase, had to be the most excited about snorkeling, because we wasted no time. Chase and I quickly put our gear on and headed straight for the water. It was quite a challenge, because not thinking ahead; we put our fins on before we walked over to the edge of the beach.

“Ouch!” I yelped, as I tripped on my fins, landing face first where the water met with the sand.

“Are you okay?” Chase kindly asked.

“Yes, I’m fine,” I replied as I slowly picked myself up and started to swim out to the dock. My brother followed behind and caught up with me; swimming at a pretty fast paste.

Huffing and puffing, we gradually climbed up onto the dock. We slowly sat down and sat in complete silence; trying to gain our energy back.

Five minutes past, and we were up and ready to dive down and experience the amazing sea creatures that my dad told us about.

“Ready?” I asked Chase.

“Yup, let’s go.” He replied.

We slid our goggles down over our eyes, looked at each other, nodded, and then dove down to the bottom of the ocean.

Oh. My. God. I thought to myself. I’ve never seen anything so beautiful in my life. The entire ocean floor was full of every kind of fish and coral you could think of. I was so shocked, that I quickly swam to shore, leaving my brother behind.

When I reached the beach, I slowly walked to my parents and told them what I had just witnessed. I also asked that if we could buy a waterproof camera, so we could take pictures. Gratefully, they agreed and as soon as I was handed the camera, I darted back to the ocean and swam out to Chase.

As swam out to where Chase was, I waited for him to come back up to the surface. Once he did, I questioned him about taking pictures; he was all for it, so we swam down and started taking pictures.

Three hours later, Chase and I heard my mom yelling at the top of her lungs, to come back, and that we had to leave. We were disappointed; however the happiness was so overwhelming, that is took the disappointment away.

Reaching shore, we packed, cleaned up, and headed back to the old, grubby, stinky van. We were on our way back to the boat.

Forty-five minutes later, we were back to where we started…the entrance to the boat. Slower than before, we walked through all of the securities, and finally made it to our little, warm, cozy room.

As I was walking into my room, I heard the horn from the boat; which indicated the boat would leave in five minutes. I dropped everything and ran to the top deck of the boat.

I looked out at the coast of Mexico, and I knew at that moment that I would never forget that experience, and that breath-taking view.

Palm trees, colorful birds, white beaches, and blue crystal water.