The Mister and the Sister: Conch Diving

One of the highlights of our vacation was a half day boat trip where we got to snorkel and dive for conch.

The morning of the trip, Lyla was having a...let's call it a disagreeable moment...and refused to leave the hotel. We contemplated canceling the trip entirely but said, screw it, let's give it a shot. So we wrestled her out of the apartment and headed down to the beach to meet our boat.

We get on the boat and the music was BLASTING. To say Lyla was clinging on to me is an understatement. From the moment the boat pushed off, she had me in a death grip with both her arms and legs. I went through the possible outcomes in my mind. Best case: she holds on to me the whole trip but doesn't freak out. Worst case: they throw us off the boat because she is completely hysterical and irrational. We will see.

First stop: snorkeling. Our guide threw some food in the water and literally hundreds of black and yellow fish swarmed the boat. We pointed them out to Lyla and from that point on she. was. in. heaven. All she wanted to do was lean over the boat and look at the fish. Mark went to snorkel and she kept waving to him and asking "Daddy, what do you see?" I went out when Mark got back and told her about the Rainbow Fish I saw in the water. She told our guide she wanted to see Jojo the dolphin and he said he would call Jojo to come visit. Happy girl.

We left the snorkeling spot for our next dive spot. Remember that loud music that greeted us when we boarded the boat? Well now, she was dancing to it with a huge grin on her face. She told the guide to go "faster than Lightning McQueen" and put her arms out in the wind like she was on the Titanic. Happy girl.

While we are cruising, lo aand behold, there were two dolphins swimming alongside us. A mama and a baby dolphin. Did I say happy girl? Ecstatic girl.

Our next stop was conch diving. Mark and I planned to take turns, like we did for the snorkeling, but two older ladies (missing their grandchildren) offered to stay with her so Mark and I could dive together. The conch diving was awesome. In about five feet of water, we snorkeled until we saw a conch and then dove to pick it up. They had to be a certain size to keep and we only had a handful of keepers among the group. Our guide, on the otherhand, collected about a dozen conch for our measley four. (As a sidenote, swimming in flippers with virtually no abdominal support because of a pregnant belly is really hard work.) Lyla cheered us on as we brought our conch back to the boat. She also adopted a new set of grandparents and sat snuggled in between them for the rest of the trip, telling them about her upcoming birthday and that she wanted a kitten.

Keepers

Lyla didn't want to touch the conch, but was pumped when our guide gave her a baby fish and a baby conch that were living inside one of the big conch.