Snorkeling with Hansel & Gretel

The sun cast its warm rays upon my face as I sat relaxing on the sandy, white beach. The crystal clear, teal, ocean water of the Caribbean danced in front of me. It was a beautiful day, a perfect day. After a busy week of loving and hugging the Dominican children, it was beach time. Some of my friends sat quietly reading their books; others were enjoying playing tourist and were bargaining for some good deals with the locals. I had just drifted off into a magical sleep when my friend, Jesse, startled me and woke me up. He had learned that for an “amazing price of $5 USD” we could rent snorkeling gear. He had convinced one person to join him, but he was certain I needed to partake in the adventure, too. I was entirely content sitting on my ample derriere soaking up the sun. There was no possibility that I wanted to snorkel even for the “amazing price of $5 USD!” In my head, I went through all the reasons for why I didn’t want to join the snorkeling pair. The biggest reason: I AM A FRAID OF WATER! Yes, I live on a ship, on the water, but when I am inside the ship, I don’t know I am on the water, so that is beside the point. But along with being terrified of water, I am equally afraid of what may be swimming around me. I just imagine that as my body floats on the service of the water, there are huge sharks, sting rays, and clown fish with crazy teeth just hoping for a snack of “white meat.” There was no chance I wanted to actually stick my head in the water and stare the scary fish in the face as they chewed on my toes! I haven’t even mentioned my fear of drowning and the fact that I don’t even like to eat fish, why would I want to swim with them? After reciting in my head the top 100 reasons why I never would snorkel, I realized Jesse was still staring at me and waiting for me to share his enthusiasm about the chance for another adventure! I politely reminded him that I had eye surgery 6 weeks earlier and “I shouldn’t stick my eyes in the water” (the least of my worries, but most socially acceptable excuse). Jesse is a persistent little punk to say the least and with the assurance that our retired marine, super athletic, friend, Tracy, would coach me through the entire process, I decided it was the perfect day to conquer some of my fears. We stood in the refreshing water and I attempted to get my flippers on. I took more than 5 minutes to don my flippers and I am certain Tracy didn’t know what she was getting into. Jesse swam ahead saying he would meet us at the reef. I slowly swam in the clear, blue water toward the reef and my “coach” asked me if I wanted to put my mask on and look in the water. I said, “Not a chance.” We then decided it would actually be better for me to get the hang of swimming with the flippers on before I added another new concept to my adventure. Apparently, I don’t have the best swimming form and with the way I was flapping my wings and feet, I would have scared away all ocean life that was near. Once I was able to maintain a proper, gentle float and paddle in the water it was time for skill number two; putting on my snorkel mask and learning to breathe with it. It took no small amount of convincing for me to venture putting on the mask and mouth piece. While afloat and a fair distance from shore, I realized the masks in the Dominican aren’t sterilized and I didn’t know how many other people had sucked on the mouth piece I now held in my hands. Tracy convinced me that since we were in salt water; it was like cleaning the mouth piece with Normal Saline, just like I would on a hospital ward. I thought that logic was slightly faulty and I secretly wished I had an alcohol swab or autoclave to boil the germ infested thing, but no luck, I took a deep breath and placed the breathing device in my mouth. At this point, we were nearing the reef and I could see my friend, Jesse, bobbing up and down with excitement each time he emerged from the water. He made some smart remark like “it’s about time you showed up and good thing you stopped your floundering, you would scare the fish!” I gave it back to him and yelled, “Pipe down, I am working on conquering years of fear, you can show a little patience and you invited me!” I also reminded him that he better not make an swift movements and that I would KILL him if he dropped pieces of fish food near me (the rental place gives bottles of bread to customers to, which they can use to draw the fish into view)! If I worked up the nerve to stick my head in the water I didn’t want to touch the fish! After some serious Lamaze breathing, I figured out I could actually breathe with my mask on and I put my head into the water. A whole new, incredibly, wet world was in front of me. It freaked me out! I rapidly pulled my head out of the water, ripped my mask off, and coughed up a lung. My mask didn’t fit correctly. Tracy kindly, switched masks with me and things improved. I worked up the courage to stick my head into the water a few times. Tracy would find something interesting, like an actual piece of the reef that was still alive (because stupid tourists have touched and stood on the reef, so the majority of it is dead) and then I would put my face in to look, but that was it. I also saw a sea urchin, some beautiful colorful fish, and a star fish! My friends saw tons of creatures, but I was content to bob in the water, with my head above the water, as long as my friends came back to the surface every 45 seconds to check on me. It was nearing time to return our rental gear and I was going under for a few more looks. I exhaled and took a deep breath. I stuck my head under the water and much to my surprise there were fish ALL around me. They were so close. I screamed! Some were touching me. Unlike most tourists; I was not impressed. I started kicking and swimming away as fast as I could. I then looked over my shoulder to see Jesse snickering and laughing his head off. That little punk friend of mine was playing his own little game of Hansel and Gretel. While I was innocently bobbing around in the ocean water he had been swimming around me under water and had spread a layer of bread crumbs all around me in a circle and the fish had come to eat the bread! The little Hansel and Gretel trick was enough for me. I swam back to shore and turned in my snorkel gear. Tracy and Jesse followed laughing and laughing. Weeks after the experience and now that my lungs are free of all the ocean water I swallowed, I can say Tracy was such a champ to put up with me in the face of my fears. I wouldn’t have completed my snorkel adventure without Tracy’s encouragement and as for Jesse…humm…my current challenge is resisting the temptation to get even with him… Just kidding… I thank God for friends that challenge me to grow and I am so thankful that God is with us whether we are facing small fears or big fears. He is always there! May you know that truth today!