Our first stop was Barbados, where Alan and I went on a catamaran to go snorkeling with sea turtles. We looked out at the tropical paradise going past. I didn’t pinch myself for fear of giving myself a bruise, but I really did feel like it was a dream.
It was so relaxing, and the sun was shining, and it was the perfect temperature. After a while, the catamaran stopped, and everyone put on life vests and snorkels. Alan splashed into the water before I did, and when I splashed into the water, I felt like I was suffocating. I calmly swam back to the boat and pulled off my snorkel.
People who go through a panic feel like they are being rushed. I decided to sit on the step and relax and not feel rushed. I looked at my snorkel, analyzing how I could use it without feeling suffocated. Alan said to put on the face mask without the snorkel, to just hold my breath, and it worked. The sea turtles were absolutely stunning and beautiful, and one of them even touched my leg by accident. They were so close.
Later I thought about how that situation was a perfect picture of how we respond to life’s difficulties. After panicking for a moment, I could have decided to give up, and I would have missed something spectacular. Trusting God is like that. You have to calm your heart and reach upward, even when you want to rip the mask off your face so you can breathe. Or get out of the difficult situation that you’re in. You can stress about it and worry and have a negative reaction, or you can choose to trust. Whenever you trust God in a situation, there is always something spectacular. It’s the transformation that happens inside myself, when God makes me more into His image.
We swam over to a coral reef and looked at the fish swimming in and out of the white coral. The water was turquoise, and the seashore had white sand and palm trees. Treading water for a whole hour was exhausting, and when we climbed back onto the catamaran, a hot lunch was ready for us.
After lunch we went to another part of the island that was even more beautiful. We saw lots of tiny turtles hatching on the shore, which is an extremely rare occurrence. Most people who live in Barbados have never seen turtles hatching. Alan splashed into the water to go see them. I said I was fine watching from the boat.
The day couldn’t have been more lovely. We just buzzed around on the catamaran, watching the lovely scenery go by. Then we went back to our cruise ship, where we had a lovely dinner. All the waiters started dancing to the YMCA song. Every night after dinner, the waiters would start dancing in a cheesy way. Our waiter was a total ham and did funny things just to amuse us.
(Stay tuned for part 8 of our amazing Bahamas trip story, where we go on a high-adrenaline zip line…)
