Florida

Well, it didn’t rain the day of my glass bottom boat trip off of Key Largo. Technically it was a catamaran called the Spirit of Pennekamp and the exact location was the John Pennekamp Coral Reef State Park, which is the first undersea park in the United States. It turned out to be the only day it didn’t rain on my Florida trip. The umbrellas we brought got good use.

I did get a bit concerned when I heard the boat trip was close to three hours and they mentioned Dramamine was for sale. I always worry about getting seasick. As for taking Dramamine. I took it once a long long time ago when I went on a cross country bus trip and the Dramamine made me feel worse than what it was a cure for.

So, I took my chances and got on the boat. We traveled through what they called a creek, but seemed more like a big river that wound its way through mangrove swamps. The boat went slow as we went through the channel and past some small islands. Once we were in the ocean, the boat picked up speed until we got to the coral reef which turns out to be the third biggest in the world.

The boat stopped and the rocking started big time as one of the crew went back and forth between the two wells of windows pointing out the fish and sea creatures going by. Another crew member offered advice for anyone who started feeling sick. I noticed several members of an Indian family who’d been passing around containers of fragrant food on the way out were now lying on the benches with their hands over their eyes. Two men went outside looking a little green.

This is it, I thought. I worry every time I go on a boat. I have gone whale watching twice far out in the Monterey Bay. Other people were throwing up and I was busy watching the whales. I’ve taken the boat to Catalina numerous times and always been fine. I even went on a boat that turned into my worst nightmare. We were going from the boat to the beach in Malibu in a dingy and as it got near the shore the dingy flipped over and I was trapped underneath. The waves kept filling up the space and I got soaked and scared. But when the time came to go back to the boat, I went rode in the dingy. On the trip back to Marina del Rey as everyone else was getting an upset stomach, I was eating a sandwich.

And once again I was fine. I adjusted to the rocking and looked at the fish swimming by the windows on the bottom of the boat. We spent forty-five minutes looking at fish, which I’m sure was way to long for the Indian family and the two guys who kept wandering outside. And then we started back. There were shadows as we passed the islands and into the creek. The boat slowed down and all was peaceful except when smaller boats sped past us and their wake made our boat rock. Finally the boat docked and I met up with my son and his friend who’d gone snorkeling.

After dinner, we enjoyed the sunset on the ride back to Miami. And the next day the rains came.