Day 4.1 Shnorkeling

Today we were to journey into the town of Cahuita, where we would go to the shoreline and get on a boat. Well, we arrived in the morning and were met by a rather nice entourage of Jamaican men who were to be our guides. Upon seeing the ocean, we realized that the waves looked rather violent and required the ensuing boats to climb up and down the water. This immediately caused our mother to reminisce about a certain dolphin tour she took a couple of years ago in which she "fed the dolphins" three times. However, she still decided to go while our dear Grandfather stayed behind to enjoy some local coffee instead.

Once out on the water, we realized it really was not that bad at all and it looked much worse from the shoreline. I was really enjoying myself. We were soaring across the ocean with wind and water spurting up and across the boat. It was very refreshing. We circled around a couple of spots near the national forest in search of a good place to snorkel and look at the coral that Cahuita was famous for. Yay snorkeling!! Each of us received a pair of flippers and a snorkel mask and were asked to sit on the ledge and put on our equipment. Snorkeling is easy, right? You just look at fish and coral and everything is right in the world. NO. Snorkeling is not in any way easy. You hit the water and you're all still cool and everything's awesome and such. Then you want to look at the coral? Okay, put in the mask mouthpiece and just stick your face under. Wellllllll that doesn't exactly fly with your brain. Your head starts screaming "WHAT ARE YOU DOING YOU STUPID IDIOT YOU ARE NOT A FISH." Hyperventilation soon follows, and when you breathe through your nose the mask gets sucked further onto your face and you just look like a drowning mammoth kitten in the water.

That was the hardest part. Trying to calm down your breathing enough to convince yourself that you are not, in fact, drowning and that you cannot breathe through your nose at all, just your mouth. After a few more failed attempts, I finally got the hang of it and could stop madly doggy paddling and gasping for air after every time I looked down. But then the coral was amazing! There were all different shapes and different fish thriving everywhere underneath the surface. I even saw Dory!! Unfortunately, Nemo was still nowhere to be found. The saga continues...

After a few hours out on the water and snorkeling every which way, we headed back to shore to eat lunch at a wonderful restaurant that made rice and beans with coconut milk. MMMMMMM. I also ordered fish, which I have had like every day (ERMERGERD FERSH.) I went home very happy. I can check snorkeling off my to do list, as well as breathing like a respiratory-challenged ape underwater.