I’m the type of person who enjoys trying new things no matter how small the task is, and something I’ve always wanted to try was snorkeling. Last year I finally got the chance to because every year I would go with my mother for the summer. And during these times, I would be put into a youth program, which is basically like the YMCA, and every Thursday we would have a field trip to various places. One of our destinations was a beach, where we’d get the experience of kayaking and snorkeling.

 This was my first time, and I remember being so excited and nervous. This was a completely new experience for me, but I didn’t know anyone there at the youth center, so I would be around completely new people. The drive was about thirty minutes, and I remember the first thing that went through my head was how clear the water was. Every person was assigned a partner that they will stay with during the whole trip for safety reasons. The first thing we had to do is learn to use the paddles with the kayak, because that will be our form of transportation until we reach the area of coral reefs. Then when we arrive in the reef, we’ll tie our kayaks to a post and hop in the water. Of course we’d also be learning how to move in the water with or without the fins, depending on what each person is comfortable with.

 Once we’re taught everything we need to know, and are set up with our gear, it’s time to get in the kayaks. I had never used a kayak, and getting inside was the most difficult part. Whenever I hoisted myself up to get into my seat, the kayak would either tip, or float away. After a bit of struggling I finally got into my seat with the help from a teacher, who’ll also be my partner. When we were both situated, we began paddling behind everyone. I never knew kayaking required so much arm strength, and to be honest I’m not a very strong person, so it was difficult because after paddling for a bit I started to grow tired. Adding on to the fact that it was about seventy or eighty degrees, with no clouds, and nothing to give us shade. It took us about ten to fifteen minutes to reach our destination, which isn’t very long, but in my opinion it felt like forever.

 I hesitantly got into the water because usually I have to prepare myself for the chilling temperature, but surprisingly the water was warm. My next challenge was moving around without, you know, drowning. Swimming with fins sounds easy, but it took me a couple of different methods until I was completely comfortable swimming. Then I face yet again, another problem. As a human being who has never been snorkeling, or deep sea diving my brain has trained itself to know that breathing under water is just something I can’t do. Yet now that I have a way to breathe while swimming around, every time I take a breath my body starts to panic. So now I had to constantly stop, resurface, take my mask off, and take a deep breath. I had a feeling that by the end of the day, it was still something I wasn’t going to get used to. While swimming around I never expected to get so close to the fish, usually they’re quick to swim away, however the fish were completely unfazed by my presence, they just swam around me.  Unfortunately I have a habit of overthinking things, and before I had even left for the field trip in the morning I was already thinking of the possibilities of me see a shark. Speaking with common sense I don’t believe they’d take to a place where we could get seriously hurt, but you never truly know what’s gonna happen until it happens. I kept thinking about what would happen if I turned around, and saw a huge and scary looking fish. Fortunately, as much times that I whipped around expecting the worse, expecting to come face to face with some flesh eating monster, nothing of the sort happened.

 Time seemed to fly by because before you know it, we’re hopping back into our kayaks, and paddling back to shore. It was a bitter sweet situation, I was starting to feel a bit light headed and a headache coming on, but I also didn’t want to leave. At the end of the day I was proud to go back home and tell my mom all about what I saw, and what I did. I have high hopes of doing this again in the future, but the next time I want my sisters to come with me, I think they’ll really enjoy the experience.