snorkeling and sting rays...

Obviously going to Jamaica we spent a lot of time around and in the water. Jason probably could have spent the whole entire week snorkeling. Me, I did it two days in a row for at least 20 minutes each and only screamed once during each trip! Which for me, that is a record! I am a 'the ocean floor/fish/anything must by at least 20 feet down' kind of snorkeler, Jason is exactly the opposite.

The first snorkeling trip was just a 5 minute boat ride off of the resort property. They had some snazzy old school life jackets that I volunteered to wear around my waist. I am also a floater snorkeler. This was my first time jumping into the ocean not sliding in...like I said, it was a major accomplishment.

I did pretty good until...

We saw a string ray!!! In the picture that is fuzzy you can barely make out his left "wing" coming out of the rock and his tail. Click on the picture to make it bigger and look! It was crazy! Too bad it swam right over a rock as Jason was taking the picture...

The other picture was taken by the resort under water camera man.

I let out a shriek (which probably wasn't such a good idea...) and stared in horror. I was so stunned that I could not do anything except for make sure the boat was still floating near by. Within a few seconds it was gone, swimming away to scare the guacamole out of someone else.

The old Annie would have jetted for the boat. The new "I don't want to ruin this for Jason" Annie DID NOT! That is right, I stayed in the water. I even took off the life jacket and tried a little (1 minute) snorkel trip sans a floatation device. I must say, I am proud of myself!