Day 7 - Snorkeling

Unfortunately, I do not have a water-proof camera, so I do not have any pictures to share with you for this day.  You're just going to have to take my word for what happened.

We got up early once again to head out on a sailboat headed to snorkeling.  Again, I was already in love.  Sailing is now officially one of my favorite things to do, even though I don't know when I'll get the chance again.  When we got to the Hol Chan Marine Reserve, we were the only sailboat in the area.  The rest came on the open top speed boats.  We got on our snorkeling gear and jumped right into the water.  I had never been snorkeling before, so I was a little nervous.  I am definitely a nose-breather so I was afraid I wouldn't get used to breathing through the tube.  And yes, it was pretty difficult to get used to.  But once I did, it was awesome.

I saw all kinds of schools of fish I had never seen before.  I even got close enough to touch a few of them, but I wasn't sure how they'd react so I kept my distance.  The same thing goes with the two turtles I saw. :) I was afraid he'd freak out and swim away or that he'd turn around and bite me.  But I definitely could have reached them.  We swam all around this reserve for what seemed like forever.  It was extra tiring trying to keep up with everyone, because I'm not a great swimmer.

We got back on the boat and sailed a bit farther to Shark Ray Alley.  And yes, it's named for what lives there.  I saw sharks (I almost could have touched one but I didn't make it to the guide soon enough after he caught it) and a ton of sting rays.  It was crazy to be swimming in the ocean right next to creatures who are known to be "dangerous".  In fact, I pet one of the stingrays.  It's a really smooth, kind of slimy creature.  After a few minutes, we got back on the boat and started on our way back to the hotel to pack up and get ready to leave.

But of course, we couldn't leave without karaoke night!  It was so much fun and almost all of us sang at least one song.  It was an absolute blast and a few of us were there until it closed.

We also met some natives, who hung around with us most of the time.