The clear blue sky was shimmering in the reflection of the water. The puffy white clouds looked like marshmallows. My ears burst from the sound of the motor boats. My hand touched the snorkel. The mouthpiece felt like gel. My arms felt the breeze from the cold New York air. Keuka Lake’s water was so cold, the coldness tingled up my spine.

“Snorkeling is going to be so fun!” I shouted to Caroline.

I have never seen a fish swimming in it’s real home. My face tightens from the goggles on my face. I knew I was going to have goggle marks this time.

 

  I have never snorkeled and I assumed it was easy. I was totally wrong. I tried and tried to breath without getting water in my nose. Why can’t I do this? Everyone else could do it but me. Water kept coming like a tsunami. I realized I needed to try breathing through my nose. My nose was numb and all I could see was the fog in my goggles.

    “One,Two,Three,” I said and went under the cold water.

With all the excitement I only saw a glimpse of the underwater environment. There was blue everywhere. It felt like a weight lifted off my shoulders, I knew how to Snorkel! I sprung out of the water and had a huge smile on my face.

“Caroline! I know how to snorkel!” I exclaimed!

 My hands went into action and cleared my goggles. I dove into the water. I was so excited I didn’t realize how cold the water really was.

 

  Green and Blue surrounds me. I went into a different world. I have never pictured the water to look like this. The vibrant colors, the reflection of the boats. How could this be an animals’ home? It went shallow to a deep black pit. My hands started shaking, where were the fish? My stomach was doing flips. I went up to breath but I quickly went back under.

When I went up to breath I said, “This is going to be so fun!”

I couldn’t just stop snorkeling, I haven’t even be in the water for 5 minutes, I thought. There was no way being scared was going to stop me. I have to be a fish instead of being afraid of the fish. Then, I felt like a fish swimming through the cold water. My feet were the tail and the snorkel were the gills. My gills were breathing in and out. Seeing a fish would be awesome. I imagined the fish, orange and black stripes down it’s back. I would follow it and follow it wherever it goes. I never wanted the fish to leave.

 

A sound burst into my ears as it traveled through the water. It’s the signal. My feet kicked like a motorboat to the sound. Caroline was there pointing at the fish. One, two, three, four and five fish were under the slimy green seaweed. I couldn’t believe the sight. We were screaming with joy. I shook my head and pretended to scream underwater to Caroline. I made out a smile even though I had the snorkel in. The butterflies flew out my stomach. I just looked at the fish, admiring what they are doing. Orange stripes were the fish’s coat. A long tail was the fish’s protector from it’s predators. I wanted to dive straight to the fish but I knew I wouldn’t be able to breath. When are they going to get scared, are they trapped? The moment lasted forever. From all the excitement I started breathing like when your crying really hard. My breath microphoned through the snorkel. Caroline snapped her head and put one finger up to her lip.

She made out the words, “Stop!”

I stayed still holding my breath, not to make any noise. Everything went silent. My whole body froze. I hope they don’t leave.

 

The family of fish reacted and flapped their tails as fast as their body’s could make them. I closed my eyes from disappointment.

“No!” I scream through the snorkel.

 I thought of all the excitement I had from seeing the fish. I just needed to see them one more time.

 

  We reacted and followed the family of fish. Water bubbles were behind us looking like a hot tube. We were hidden from all the bubbles. Caroline and I went up to have one more gasping breath before we went exploring again.

“I want to keep looking, I said.

Without responding we went back underwater. We tried to do everything we could to find the fish again. Caroline went left and I went right. Searching and searching for the fish. The family of fish knew we were following them and went to every seaweed hiding place in the lake.Where in the world could they be? My eyes got tired of looking for them. I gently close my eyes and just listened to the boats, and the little splashes the water made against the shore.

 

  I knew the fish were gone. Caroline and I met up. My toes felt the rocky slope while I walked toward Caroline. She could tell I was disappointed.

“We will just keep looking,” she said, while putting her snorkel back into her mouth.

I touched the snorkel ready to go back into the water. I felt like a real diver. “SPLASH!” went the water when we dove into the water. I imagined the water looking perfect and then us disturbing it. Ripples circle around the area we were in.

 

Caroline and I didn’t scream to make the signal. There was no fish to make the signal. We probably scared all the fish away, I thought.  But that’s ok. There are always more and different fish in the sea. Any fish big or small, blue or gray, and purple or pink will come eventually, I thought. My hands grasped the snorkel and pull it out of my mouth.

“That was fun!” I screamed to Caroline.

I forgot that I didn’t see the fish and thought of the great joy and excitement from snorkeling. Next time I will see even more fish and still have a great time.