Stingray Spring Break by Heather Hill (ebook reader color screen .txt) 📕

The island of the Bahamas was calling one afternoon when my father was checking his e-mail for the snooze-you-loose latest deals on cruises to get away from the Mean Minnesota Winter for a while. He had found a great one only a week away going to Nassau, starting in Florida, and sprung on the chance with another group of family friends. When adventuring on an island the cruise ship had made port at we stumbled upon a secret place the locals told us they had actually filmed Gilligan’s Island on. Thanks to my fathers lack of itinerary and love for adventure we discovered a cove, enclosed from the rest of the ocean. Being that we are a family of photographers we were stoked to check out a new atmosphere to photograph lasting memories together. Plus, we had until that night when the ship was said to leave for open water, plenty of time “to get into some trouble” my youngest sister Sarah, duly noted.

Walking upon the cove, coming from the distance we came to find a local man, Haitian looking, knee deep in what looked like space of stairs to step into the depths from. He was found to be watching over his attraction called, “Stingray City”, an area closed off with nets from the open ocean beyond. Holding captive a number of tamed from the wild stingrays, he had caught himself and handled for a time so as to nurture them being used to human contact. We had bought new snorkel equipment for the trip and jumped at the chance to adventure beneath the waves with such unique looking creatures. My mom opted to wait on the side, something about “giant butterflies” or something, I was too busy being the first one in the water with my two younger sister and family friends kids right behind me.

Quickly I got into my snorkel and flippers, like an astronaut preparing for takeoff, and slowly lowered myself into the blue abyss below. Being Minnesota Natives, we found it funny the locals laughing at us not using wet suits, saying the water was so cold we must be crazy, we simply responded, “were from Minnesota, we don’t fear cold”. My younger sisters floated to either sides of me and we took in the new world of giant gray tinted stingrays, gliding so gracefully and effortlessly. We took them in, arms lynched at the elbows, my sisters and I, floating in the ocean like three jellyfish, heads bobbing at the surface yet fully emerged.

The giant butterflies quickly came to check out the scene and rub up against the strangers intruding on their domain. Their bodies were gray on top and white underneath and flat like a pancake except near the middle where batter may have formed a fatter part, thinning out toward the edges, yet shaped like a kite. Their eyes were located on the top of their bodies yet their mouths were underneath them which made for a strange site when they would glide by your face to see what we were about. Their texture was also different from one side to the other, for the top side was scratchy like a kittens tongue and contrasted against their belly side, which felt jelly-like and smooth to my bare arms and legs.

My parents watched taking pictures and video of the exotic adventure from the sides, laughing at the gurgled squeals and laughter, and then choking on saltwater, spurted from the tops of our snorkels as we tried with all our might to keep from having to surface our faces above. After a time floating and swimming within their world, the native local man demonstrated how to hand feed them, for the stingrays have no teeth, but instead use a sucking method to eat their food, so no need to worry about getting bit. He then handed out bits of squid in pouches we were to take and snorkel with, and feed them underwater. We all adventured back into the depth anxious to try out the technique just showed to us, squealing with delight as they took the food from our outstretched hands.

All was divine for five minutes until my middle sister Emily started making scared noises from her snorkel and decided to try and crawl up the back of my life vest to get out of the water by pushing me under, very frantically like a mouse running for dear life with a cat on its tail. As I am trying to get a hold of the situation that Emily so kindly involved me in I notice from the corner of my eye, her hand let go of a piece of squid which subsequently floated by my left upper arm. Before I knew it a stingray had innocently sucked up the piece of abandoned squid and with it along came my arm. It felt like someone had placed a vacuum attachment to my flesh on full power mode, I screamed in my snorkel, as I brought my arm around to my face to see the reason for the sensation, the stingrays eyes dashed crazily in all directions looking right into my soul through my goggles. I reacted quickly for it startled me and I unfortunately think I thrust the creature from my arm and back elbow jabbed him in my hurried state to get from being a stingray gummy snack.

It startled me so much that on the swim to the stairs to exit the cove, had a shark tried to keep me from exiting the water I feel I could have taken it on, I was that anxious to get from this strange world that had turned on me so suddenly. As soon as I hit the stairs and my body was out of the water I heard the local laughing and pointing at my arm, where there was a new red hickey mark from the stingray. I couldn’t help but smile after I thought about it for a bit, even though I was still a bit angry at my sister nearly drowning me and then almost getting eaten alive by a stingray thanks to her freaking out and letting go of her squid by me. I was able to let all the bad feelings go when I realized I had gotten a neat souvenir from the trip, for how many people can truly say they got a hickey, from a stingray.

Publication Date: 01-25-2010

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