17

Mom still wanted that photo for the Christmas card, and I could tell she wasn't gonna take "no" for an answer. I told Mom I'd stay in just long enough for ONE picture, and if someone BLINKED, that was just tough luck. She agreed, and then we got in the water one by one. I was the last person in.

The captain couldn't figure out how to work Mom's camera, and he was taking FOREVER. I really didn't like the feeling of not knowing what was swimming underneath me, so I took a peek underwater. I'm glad I did, because it was actually kind of AMAZING. I could see why people liked snorkeling and scuba diving so much.

A big school of blue and green fish surrounded me, and the fish were darting all over the place, changing directions two times a second. At first I thought it was COOL, but then I realized that this is how animals behave when they're trying to avoid a PREDATOR. I didn't see any sharks underwater, so I started scanning the surface for FINS. The captain finally figured out Mom's camera and was ready to take our picture, but I was already swimming for the boat.

Just then, a sea horse swam right in front of my mask, and it surprised me. My snorkel dipped beneath the surface, and I accidentally took a HUGE gulp of water. And I'm 95% sure that I swallowed the sea horse along WITH it. Now I was in a full-blown panic. I think I might've actually DROWNED if the captain hadn't pulled me up into the boat.

Once I was on board, I coughed up a lot of water but no sea horses. Mom climbed aboard to find out what was wrong. She could see I wasn't looking so good, and she told the captain we should go back to the resort so I could get checked out by a doctor. After everybody else climbed in, we headed back. The ride was really choppy, and if I hadn't ALREADY been sick, that would've done it. We made good time, and the captain dropped us off at the dock.

He had already called ahead to the resort's doctor, who was waiting for us. When I told him what had happened, I thought for SURE he was gonna send me to the nearest hospital to get my stomach X-rayed. But he checked me out and said I seeme OK. Then he told me it wasn't very likely I swallowed a sea horse and I'd be perfectly fine. I really didn't like how casual this guy was being about the whole thing. In fact, he seemed a lot more concerned with Mom and Dad than he did with ME.