Two days ago I bought my plane ticket for my Key West getaway! Even though it's over 4 months away, I'm so excited about it. It's nice to have something to look forward to. My pharmacy girls, their significant others, and I are heading down at the end of March for a week! Yeah!
You may ask why Peter is not coming. Well, he will be going on a sailing trip in early March, so that's his spring break vacation. It wasn't our intention to take separate trips, but the more I thought about sailing somewhere out near Grenada the more apprehensive I became about it. I made the tough decision not to go on the trip, but encouraged him to go, 'cause I know he really wanted to.
Why wouldn't I want to go sailing, you ask? Well, along with several other reasons, I hate aquatic life! No, scratch that. I absolutely love going to the aquarium, but that's about as close as I like to be to marine life. I need that piece of glass to protect me. I hate close encounters with aquatic life. Here's a little background on my experiences with fish & such:
#1. My first experience snorkeling was in the Dominican Republic about 3 and half years ago. I hated it. The idea that a fish could swim right up to me and brush against my leg disturbed me to no end. Fortunately, it was cloudy that day and the area we went snorkeling in did not have much life lurking around, so I barely saw anything.
#2. My second experience snorkeling was about a year and a half ago when Peter & I went on our cruise. We went snorkeling in the Bahamas. I was apprehensive about it, but decided to at least give it a shot. The water was so cold that I didn't really focus on being surrounded by sea creatures. Then, there was this area out in the water where a "lifeguard" threw food into the water and fish would swarm. Peter tried quite hard to get me to go to this area, but just watching other people experience this was enough for me. I actually got so freaked out that when we turned around to swim back to shore I started screaming. Peter was like, "I didn't even see a fish around you." and I responded (out of breath from screaming), "I know, it was the strap to my life preserver, but I thought it was a fish!"
#3. Then we have Puerto Rico. After much coaxing Peter finally got me to go in the water when we went on our Bioluminescent Bay Tour. I was not a happy camper, but the water was so warm and the dinoflagellates were so cool, that I calmed down. We were probably in the water for about 20 minutes when we began to think about how we were gonna climb back into our kayak. Then it happened: extreme pain! I was stung by a jellyfish! Why was I surprised? I won't go into details, but it was not a fun thing to experience. I refused to go in the water for the rest of the trip.
So, I wouldn't say that it was only the experiences above that led me to my fear of aquatic life. No, I've always had these feelings. I was reading this article about a girl who went snorkeling in Florida, and came upon a turtle the size of several people put together. I got goose bumps right away. Peter thinks it would be cool to see a turtle like that. I think it would cause me to have a massive heart attack. I'm not afraid it would eat me or anything. I just don't want it to be near me. Oh, and in case you're wondering, I also have zero desire to ever swim with the dolphins.
In conclusion, I think I made the right choice for me. Instead of being scared of shark attacks, giant turtles, sting rays, or even some minnows, I will be drinking to my heart's content while lying by our pool at our house in Key West!
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