Part 8 (2/2)

Don't tell me the moon is s.h.i.+ning. Show me the glint of light on broken gla.s.s.

a”Anton Chekov Tuesday, July 9, 5:45 P.M.

Key Largo, Florida

In a hammock

On the beach

I can't believe we've been snorkeling in the Florida Keys for the last four days. And what I really can't believe is that we have to go home tomorrow.

It's too bad because I like it here.

I'd like it a whole lot more if Dad would stop saying annoying stuff like, ”It's so nice to have the old April back.” And, ”I knew this trip was a good idea.”

But whatever. I'd never snorkeled before this trip, and it's definitely one of the coolest things I've ever done. If I was old enough to drive (and if I had a car), I'd get a b.u.mper sticker that says I LOVE SNORKELING.

The first day we got here, Mom and Dad bought us a bunch of equipment for snorkeling. Masks. Snorkels. Fins. Mom made a video of May and June and me trying out our equipment on the beach. I knew we looked funny walking around like we couldn't find the ocean, but I didn't care. I put on the fins and mask and pretended like I was a sea monster and chased June around the beach. She was laughing so hard. It was really funny.

Once we got the hang of how the equipment worked, we practiced snorkeling in shallow water. We learned how to breathe through the snorkel and float on our stomachs with fins on.

Then we practiced diving under the surface of the water. We started off still in shallow water. You could see fish and plants under the water that you would never know existed if you hadn't looked under the surface. But snorkeling near the sh.o.r.e couldn't compare to the snorkeling we did during the rest of the trip.

For the last three days, we've gotten to go on snorkel boats and explore the only living coral barrier reef in North America.

The first day we went, the boat captain gave us a quick course on what to do. He gave us some rules: Don't feed the fish. Don't touch the coral. If you see sea turtles or dolphins, don't touch them.

Then he taught us some hand signals to use under water. Stuff like: I've had enough and I'm doing fine.

He said we'd also be doing a lot of signaling for other people to take a look at the cool stuff we'd be seeing. And he was right. What I've seen under water is so completely coola”tons of tropical coral formations, and underwater plants, and all kinds of colorful fish.

Our boat captain told us we were seeing the third largest coral reef in the world, and that the corals had been there for 5,000 to 7,000 years.

When I was in St. Augustine, I didn't like looking at things that were hundreds of years old. Change of opinion: old stuff can be pretty cool after all.

Seeing everything underwater was amazing, but the best part about being under the surface of the ocean was how it felt to be part of an underwater world that I never knew existed. It seemed incredible that I spend every day at school, in my room, hanging out with my friends a while there's a whole other world filled with things that had been there for thousands of years that I didn't know about before this trip.

This sounds weird, but snorkeling made me think that the world is full of things I don't know about yet. Things I've never thought about before or even known to think about. And just realizing that made me happy. Everything underwater was so quiet and relaxing and beautiful. I felt like I could have stayed down there just looking at the fish and corals forever.

But as Dad said, all good things must end.

And that's exactly what's happening tomorrow.

Hi-ho, hi-ho. Back to Faraway we go.

I never thought I'd say this (and I certainly wouldn't say it to my parents), but this trip has been pretty good.

10:30 P.M.

The other thing I've done a lot of on this trip besides snorkeling is eating key lime pie. It's my new favorite food (right up there with s'mores). Dad likes it too. He's taking home a bag of key limes, and he's going to find a recipe so he can start to serve key lime pie at the Love Doctor Diner.

Who knows? I just might start wanting to eat there.

Sometimes the questions are complicated and the answers are simple.

a”Dr. Seuss Thursday, July 11, 3:45 P.M.

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