Guest post by Maria, age 7

At the first beach I really liked the water because it was really shallow and you could go as far as you want and the water was still shallow.  By the time you were far away the water got deeper and deeper and you could tell because it started to get darker and darker and then darker and then darker. And we only went dark enough for it to be a dark, dark blue but not dark enough for sharks.

Poppy bought me a brand-new snorkeling set with goggles and a snorkel. Mine was pink! I thought my goggles were really weird because I’m not used to the ones that have really big eyes and a nose. And if felt weird because I’m not used to putting something in my mouth. But when I put my face under the water, I saw all these pretty shells, some that were broken and some that weren’t. And I found one sand dollar! I was really excited because it was the first full sand dollar I ever found!

And then me and Mommy went really shallow going left on the beach. I found this really cool reef with all the fish and we saw a barracuda, but it was a baby. We had to stay really far away from the baby barracuda because it had really, really sharp teeth and its mommy might be near. You don’t mess with a barracuda!

And then we found these little spiky balls and I found one covered in shells and I thought a fish built that, but Mommy said it wasn’t. She said it was a sea urchin. And then I touched it. We tried to pick it up, but I could only reach one shell because it was too deep.

And then Poppy had enough, and everyone had enough, and I didn’t. I could have stayed hours and hours snorkeling because I get to see things I never saw before. It makes me feel really excited and really happy. That was my first snorkeling trip. It was awesome!!!!

For family: to see all the family pictures of our beaches and snorkeling adventures, please click the button below.