Location: Grand Turk

The boat bounced on the waves as it sped across the open ocean. Cold air blasted my bare flesh and I shivered to keep warm.

It was a long boat ride to the middle of nowhere. Our tour guide kept us busy as he gave instruction on the regular snorkeling safety precautions, like how to properly inflate a life jacket, how to breathe through the snorkel and how to kick our feet with fins on.

But my family wasn’t just snorkeling… we were power snorkeling. So we were also taught how to use the special handheld jets that would propel us through the water. I was very excited to try it out.

After about 15 minutes, our boat came to a sudden stop. There was no land visible in any direction, and our driver hadn’t given us any warning, so I was quite curious as to what had stopped us.

Maybe this is where we get off to snorkel?

My thought was quickly erased as a loud splash brought my eyes to the surface of the sea. It was our guide… he vanished beneath the waves. I was so confused. Where did he go? Why did he do that?

Then he reappeared moments later and climbed back onto the boat with a shiny shell glistening in his hand.

I have no idea how the man spotted the conch resting on the ocean floor from our boat; it was amazing!

After another fifteen minutes, we arrived at our destination. Again, water was all I could see in almost every direction, but this time, a barren island was close by. It made it easier for me to slip into the ice cold water; if things went wrong I could always swim to shore.

And so our power snorkeling tour began.

I had a blast, zooming through the water on my handheld jet thingy. My eyes were glued to the ocean floor, taking in the colourful coral and beautiful fish that swam by.

Some people were adventurous and dove to the ocean floor, to swim with the fish. I admit, I wasn’t brave enough to try. I just kept thinking of all the things that could go wrong. Maybe my jet thing would break and I’d have to swim back up; maybe I’d accidentally breathe in a load of salty water and choke; maybe a fish would eat me…

So I just hung out at the top with my brother.

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It didn’t stop me from seeing all sorts of cool things.

I saw a couple stingrays.

I saw a scary looking monster of a fish that scowled at me with its sharp teeth bared.

A tiny fish tried to nibble my brother’s flipper.

And before I knew it, the tour was done.

The time really flew by. I am not one who enjoys swimming, but I loved watching the fish in their natural habitats, and I also enjoyed speeding around with my handheld jet.

We ended our trip on the barren island, where the shallow water was swarming with stingrays.

Then while everyone relaxed on the beach, my family decided to hike around the small island.

When we came back, everyone was huddled around our guide who had caught the conch earlier in the trip.

I was worried that we missed something important, so I ran down to join the circle, only to find the man holding a slimy piece of gunk that was apparently the conch without its shell.

He broke it into pieces, ate one, and offered the rest of us a taste of this all natural seafood. Only one person accepted, and by the look on his face afterward, I could tell he wished he hadn’t. When no one else braved up enough to eat the slimy seafood, our guide finished it off with a smile on his face.

Check out my other posts, Caves of Curaçao and Aruba Aruba, if you want to see how the rest of my cruise went!

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