Moments D690: Dance, dance, dance!

Today the entire crew visiting Jamaica for my cousin's wedding joined in on a full day adventure with Chukka Tours.  The day started out with a rain storm.  It was fun to watch the storm cloud roll in, let loose upon us at breakfast and then pass through just as quickly as it came in.  We were thankful for the quick storm as we had all signed up for their catamaran cruise headed to Dunn's River to climb the falls.   There were over 20 of us.  It needed to be a good weather day and the universe was in agreement!

What a treat to enjoy a day with everyone.  It was a day filled with great moments, and today, I'm going to share a couple of them.  First, we cruised along and stopped for a snorkel.

After our snorkeling time (which was definitely dampened by the rain storm - the reef wasn't very clear!), we headed to Dunn's River Falls.

Walking up the falls wasn't much fun with the group as the tour guides originally had us all hand in hand, in hand, like a trail of kids.  It was like being on lock down when a world of excitement was just in front of you, teasing you for more action.  It didn't take long for EQ & I to split from the group and climb up the falls on our own terms.  What a treat that was.  What a ton of fun it was to play in the falls.

But truly, the best moment of the day was after lunch and on the boat ride back to the resort.  With rum punch in hand, we all rode the waves and sang and danced....and danced some more.  We all did!  All 20+ of us on the front of the catamaran.  With screams of fear (for some of our group fear motion like that!) mixed with screams of laughter we danced the afternoon away.

When we landed back at the resort, we continued to dance, sing, and laugh.  We managed to even catch some, actually a lot, of it on video!  How incredible to spend the day bonding with my family (and extended friends) and to be an adventurer with EQ.  

It was a day filled with dancing; dancing in the waves of the ocean, dancing in the river splashing up the falls and then dancing atop the catamaran.  Dance, dance dance!

Moments enjoying a day trip with the family.

Moments being extremely silly and loving life!

Moments D689: Underwater Screams

Today, EQ took a bunch of us snorkeling!   What a glorious morning it was!  Blue skies with puffy clouds mirrored upon the aqua waters.   The eight of us were eager to get into the water and explore!

And explore we did!  For over an hour, seven of us in the water explored the depths of the coral reef just North of the resort.  Pepper was our guide and he was a lot of fun as he tried to make our time in the water special.  He was obviously very comfortable in the water and the reef.  He was constantly lifting rocks and shells to show us what was hiding beneath.  Under one of the rocks lifted, there was a starfish.  He pulled it from the rock and ocean floor and  let it go near the surface.  We watched as it fluttered in the waves and back to the sandy floor below. He showed us sea eggs, and marbles, and at one point he even took my hand and we chased a stingray.

But, the best moment, by far, was when Pepper convinced me to touch one of the soft looking corals on the reef.  Now, I come from a mentality of "look, don't touch", but he was flitting about so confidently and I had begun to trust him.  I figured, why not?  I could gently touch this coral, right?

And so, I dove down with him, and gently touched the soft coral.  When I realized that my fingers were stuck in the coral, I screamed!  MY FINGERS WERE STUCK!  "AAAAARRRGGGG"  When I touched the sticky coral, it grabbed me and held on! It was like a bad horror film moment!

With a firm tug, of course, the coral let me go.

As Pepper and I surfaced for air, we were both laughing hard.  Topside, he explained to me, my cousin and EQ who were within earshot, that this coral was food for seahorses.   After the laughter all-around subsided, I watched my cousin dive down and experience the same sticky coral as it grabbed her fingers.  While she didn't scream as I did, you could tell she was still surprised at just how sticky it was!

Moments that surprise you.

Moments that make you laugh big and deep.