Were a bunch of beach bums

Allie has been wanting to learn how to snorkel. Austin has all this time off of school and we plan on doing a lot a of snorkeling, so we figured that we should get her a early Christmas present. We took her to a dive shop and found her a little snorel set that is just her size. It is the cutest little tiny snorkel. She picked out the color that she wanted and was so excited. We took her to the beach by the Marriott. They have a little reef there that is not out very far and we thought would be a good place for her to learn. When we got there the water was sort of murky because there had been big waves Fri. and Sat. that stirred up the sea weed and made the water kind of nasty. We could still see okay so we gave it a shot.

Here's Allie all ready to go.

She was all excited and did good with the breathing part but then saw a fish and it spooked her. If you know Allie you know she is terrified of animals and I was afraid that would happen. I couldn't get her to go out more than 3 feet after that. Austin and I took turns snorkeling around there for a bit and then we decided to try somewhere else and see if the water was better.

We found the perfect snorkeling spot (and I think our new favorite beach spot too). It is a little reef that is out about 25 yards out. It blocked the waves from stirring up the seaweed the other day and so the water was crystal clear. There was also a bunch of little minnows swimming around that Allie wasn't afraid of. She went with Austin and they found seashells on the bottom for a while and gradually they made their way out further. They saw some needle fish that were about a foot long and Allie actually swam towards them. They also started to see some other kinds of fish. I loved just sitting on the beach and watching them it was so cute.

Allie eventually got a little gutsy and went off on her own some.

Kaity kept me company in the sand. She also made me some good sand and sea water soup. YUMMY!!



Kaity wanted to try snorkeling. She did good breathing through the tube out of the water but when she would put her head in the water she kept opening her mouth and getting water in her mouth. She kept having to come and get a drink to rinse her mouth out. I told her to smile at me and this is the pose I got. Austin and I laughed so hard.

Today Allie was begging to go out snorkeling again. We had heard about a nice beach on the north side of the island so we went to find it. It was a good beach but it was kind of windy and the waves on the north side were too big to snorkel in. It was a pretty little walk from the
car to the beach though.
We went back to the beach we were at yesterday. We had a little picnic lunch on the beach and then it was time for some fun. Allie went out a little further with Austin today and they saw a little reef squid that was about a foot long. Then Allie wanted to look for seashells so Austin went to explore the reef a little more. Allie snorkeled back and forth along the shore for about 30 more minutes. It was so cute watching her kick along. She looked so small all by herself. When she came in she was starving so she finished the other half of her sandwich in about three bites as you can see.

She was tired and cold after all that so she laid down to relax for a bit.

Kaity took advantage of Allie laying down and took the snorkel and went out with Austin. She was a little better today but is still struggling keeping her mouth closed.

Then Austin watched the girls and I went and snorkeled the reef for a bit. I saw a lot of really cool fish. When Austin is in school he never has time to come to the beach so when I go with the girls I can't snorkel. I forgot how much I really love it. On my way in I saw a long narrow fish that was about a foot and a half and I thought it might have been a little barracuda. I followed it for a little bit (yeah, I know not too smart) then it opened it's mouth and I saw it's teeth. Yep, it was a barracuda and I swam as fast as I could to shore! Austin was jealous he has been wanting to see a barracuda while snorkeling, and I hope I never see one again. They wont come near you but still the teeth freaked me a bit. Here is a picture I took of the beach just north of where we were. You can kind of see the reef off to the left.

I love it here especially having Austin out of school but it doesn't feel like Christmas is only 8 days away.