Travel Log: Day 4

Tuesday, July 1, 2008: Grand Cayman Island and Sting Ray City

This day was one I had mixed feelings of anticipation and fear about! I was still wondering what possessed me to think it would be a great idea to go swim with sting rays and snorkel in the ocean. The day started out as an early one...had to meet up with our group at 6:45 am to take a tender boat into the island. Once our guide to Sting Ray City showed up we loaded up on some "buses" and headed out to his boat. Once the boat launched it was about 25-30 minutes out to where the sting rays live, in the middle of the ocean! When we got there the water was only about 4 feet deep and crystal clear. We were the first group out since it was so dang early in the morning. We all got in the water and the sting rays were ready and waiting, I was reminded of a swarm of bees, or as Andrew put it, ducks in a park coming after you for food. They had squid that we could feed them. I attempted it, but honestly I lost courage at the last minute and gave my piece to Andrew and made him do it for me! This was one of the coolest things I have done up to this point in life, at least one of the most adventurous :)

(The other woman...)

(I know what you are thinking, how romantic!)

After this we left and went further out to where there was a good spot along the coral reef to snorkel. I am not a great swimmer and I have had a few close calls with drowning so I was a bit scared of this scenario of being in 8-10 ft. deep ocean water; however, I was willing to give it a shot. I was a big dork and strapped on one of those orange life vests and "jumped" in. Well, I got about 6 feet from the boat and started to feel like I was leaving my comfort zone. I thought I would just peek below the surface and see if I really needed to go any further. Let me tell you, I was not expecting what happened next. You see, I am terrified of heights, all my life I have been. When I looked below the water and saw the ocean floor below I felt like I was looking down from a high cliff and instantly started to have a mini-panic attack. I pulled my head out of the water and gave myself a lecture on how I was in the ocean, not on a cliff. I was not going to fall off the edge or have anything like that happen. I could do this...well, I tried again and this time it was worse. I started having that crazy panic attack breathing and got really scared that I was in the middle of the Atlantic ocean and going to die. I decided this whole thing was crazy and so not worth it. I turned my butt around best as I could and made it back to the boat just in time to save myself. I know, I am a total baby, whatever I don't care. At least I tried it. Andrew of course grew gills and was pretending to be aquaman. He didn't even notice I wasn't in the water anymore. How rude?! When he got back on the boat he was beaming from ear to ear exclaiming his new found love of snorkeling along coral reefs. He was asking me if we could do it again sometime. I just looked at him like the crazy fool he was and said he could, but I wasn't going to do it ever again!

Once we got back to shore it was off to find some lunch and we ate lunch on a patio in the sun in the middle of the Caribbean, it was such a surreal moment. The food was okay, but the setting was perfect. Our next plan before boarding the cruise ship was to do some shopping. I am not much into the touristy-souvenirs as they come home and become clutter, so I didn't know what to expect. The first thing we found was a coin shop. Andrew loves coins and was stoked that I would humor him and enter into his world a little bit. The woman who ran the shop was actually very nice and knowledgeable. I got an entire lesson on "pieces of eight." It was pretty neat if I am being completely honest. Part of me wanted to buy a silver set of real pieces of eight, but seeing as they cost almost $2000 that was a dream quickly laid to rest! We ended up buying a coin from 1808, Andrew has added it to his collection and it is now the oldest one he has. I love you hunny :) The only other thing I found worth getting was the cutest little nativity scene to add to my collection. I wish we could have found something a little bigger, but it is what it is and I love it. At this point I was dying and proclaimed I could go no farther. We rested a bit and then headed back to the ship to shower and get ready for our next class.

This day's lecture was very interesting and has given me lots to think about. The main thing I took away from it was the advice given on how to have the language of the Spirit and love in our homes and families, especially in our marriages. The Savior taught that we should never be guilty of the first or the second offense (sorry don't have the reference on hand...bad Toshia!) and Dee talked to us about how this is the key to successful homes and families. We are to become like the Savior and be united in purpose, Joseph Smith taught that if we were united and one as a people that the Savior could come today or tomorrow and it would be the same. We should be aiming for Zion in our marriages, our families, our wards, etc. The idea is that if we are not easily offended then we will not react in a way that would pull our hearts away. If you think about it how many times have you said or done something completely in innocence and hurt someone else's feelings and then had to deal with the consequences of that act. Even if someone does say something mean or hurtful if we walk away from it and not get offended then we are not guilty of the first offense and cannot be guilty of a second because we didn't react. I don't think I am explaining this very well, but I hope you get the general idea. I will use myself as an example. Sometimes I might not have the best day at work and when I come home I am still in a bad mood. Andrew will ask me a question or make some innocent comment and my response comes out quick or sharp and hurts Andrew. Now, I am not mad at him but I have allowed myself to react in a way that could in turn hurt Andrew. If he walked away from it and didn't take offense then it would be over; however, if he responded in kind and used the same "manner of language" that I had then I could be hurt by his words. If I chose to walk away at this time then I would not be guilty of the second offense and the situation would end; however, if I didn't walk away it would turn into a full blown argument (I can say that would be the result because there are unfortunately many times when it has been). I share this with you, not to reveal weaknesses in myself or make you think we fight a lot, we don't, but to try to help you understand what to watch out for. One key thing that was brought up in this lecture was the idea that in walking away we don't walk away as a martyr. This just allows the negative feelings to fester within us and we will spread that around to anyone who will listen to us. May we all strive to live a more Zion-like life in our own lives and hopefully someday we can say that we were not guilty of the first or second offense. As a side note of sorts if you compare this to the way the world says to handle things there was a study quoted on the radio a few weeks back about how long-lasting/successful marriages had couples who regularly had small bickering fights as this allowed them to vent frustrations and be completely honest with each other. At the time I heard this it made some sense to me for some reason, now I wonder why. The Savior taught us to love, not to argue... which "manner of language" will I choose each day?

***Andrew just read this and would like me to correct the fact that we were in the Caribbean not the Atlantic (whatever) and that when we went out to Sting Ray City and to snorkel we weren't in the middle of the ocean we were in the middle of a bay--which may I just point out was filled with the same water that is in the ocean so what is the difference? There are the "corrections!"