Swimming in an Aquarium

Had an amazing last few days.  Sitting here, in front of my fan, I'm thinking back on all the laughter and memories shared with good friends.  I'm so very thankful for people that uplift you and make you laugh till you can't breath.  Where would life be without them?

Our good friends, T.J. and Christa {and kids} came up from Kingston to stay 3 days with us.  They are missionaries there, on the south coast.  Since we all LOVE the Sea we found a babysitter and loaded up our gear.  

Prince has a {fisherman} friend with a boat, and he will take us out for a very reasonable price.  When we arrived at the boat, Hammer {the fisherman} had to bail out the standing water in the bottom.  Christa and I exchanged a questionable look back and forth.  Biting our tongues and putting on brave faces we climbed into the rickety Sunshine Girl.   Stepping over the discarded fishing "things" laying in the floor, we found a place to sit, on an old squeaky board.  The engine on this boat was considerable nicer then the last boat Prince took me in.  This one started up after on a few pulls.  

I wish I could take you along with me, bouncing over the waves with the sea spray in your face.  It is such a refreshing and exhilarating feeling.  I'd do it every day if I could!  Seeing the Island from the sea view is so inspiring to me.  Here is our Jamaica.

Hammer dropped the anchor and our fellas suited up, soon disappearing under the turquoise waves.    Christa and I put on our fins and masks and took turns sitting on the edge of the boat then flipping  backwards into the Sea.  Each time I go snorkeling I'm always initially shocked at the sights before me.  It always amazes me of the beauty so close...but hidden from so many.  

This was definitely the best snorkeling adventure I've been on yet.  We went to a different area, right off shore from the Montego Bay airport.  There were more fish circling us then all the times before put together.  I felt like I was in the middle of a fish store aquarium!  Fishies in every shade of blue and turquoise and silver darted in and out of the coral everywhere you look.  Right after we jumped in, Christa pointed out two giant manta rays gracefully gliding nearby.  The coral was perfect with high spots you could swim near to inspect the occupants, then going down into deep caverns ideal for hidden pirate treasure chests.  I love to watch the sun rays flitter across the smooth sand on the bottom.  It wasn't long and we had a huge school (maybe of 150 or so) Sergeant Major fish following close behind, seemingly begging us for food.  After I realized they were there I would turn around every few minutes and look them right in the eye.  They were so cute, because they would quickly turn their heads to the side and pretend they weren't following me.  But when I would turn around again to continue on, there would be another group peeking over my shoulder.  So much fun.  I kept trying to touch them but they are {super} fast.  

As Christa and I explored along, she signaled at me to look up ahead.  We could see the outline of some large fish but it was still blurry.  My first thought was apprehension.  There has been a shark sighted in the area recently.  But, Christa is much more experienced in the water then me, so I just followed along close to her.  We kept exploring the nocks and crannies of coral, but I kept one eye on the approaching shape that steadily grew in number.  We watched as the large dark fish took form and became a school of "chubb" fish. (That is probably not spelled right, but that is what the fisherman call them.)  There were nine of them darting around with the other fish.    One large chubb became very curious of us, and stayed close the rest of the time.  

Climbing back in the boat is a lot harder then it looks!  The boat engine came to life and we began the journey back to the little fisherman village.   I am so amazed at the awesome adventures and opportunities of a Caribbean missionary wife.  

I'm convinced though, that life is what you make of it and how you wish to picture it.  

Some could spend a day at Sea 

and come back with just a sunburn....

 I plan to look for the buried treasure,

p.s All the pictures used in today's post were taken by our fellow adventurer, T.J.  Thanks, T.J!