Ever since my parents had told me about their experience swimming with dolphins in Grand Cayman, I have dreamt about what it would be like. Would it be fun? Maybe scary? Today is the day I get to find out!

Feeling the hot Mexican sun shining on my pale skin, I am as warm as an oven, as I wade into the frigid ocean water. I don’t know whether I would consider this a pool or the ocean?

“Hey mom,” I say, while focusing on walking, careful not to fall off the slippery platform, “we are in the ocean, right?”
“Yeah, it is part of the ocean that they have netted off,” she replies.

I stop, trying to take it all in. I am in Cozumel, in the ocean, and I am going to swim with a dolphin! This day could not get any better, I think to myself. I hear my sister yell from in front of me. I jerk my head up to find a ten step gap between me and her. I must have stopped for a long time. I try to rush, but even though I have a life jacket on, I do not want to fall in.

A man walks over, he has very tan skin, probably from being out in the sun everyday.
“Hi everyone, I am a dolphin trainer here at Dolphin Discovery. Before you meet Nala, I have to go over some rules with the twelve of you.”

I spot a dolphin jump out of the air directly across the water from us. I watch as the group of 12 cheer so loudly. I continue watching and see the same dolphin push a woman out of the air by her feet, and her expression is priceless. Am I going to get to do that, too? I really want to do that! Realizing that I am not paying attention, I quickly look back at the guy standing in front of us.

“Any questions?” He asks.
I feel ashamed that my curiosity got the better of me, but I try to look confident incase he saw me not paying attention.
Before I have time to ask my sister what I missed, he exclaims, “Okay, are you all ready to meet Nala?”
“Oh yeah!” The twelve of us scream in sync.

He moves his hand in a weird fashion, and a grey bodied, ten foot long, dark eyed mammal  comes swimming from across the pool. I am third in line, next to my sister, and mom. Nala comes swimming down the line, stopping at each one of us, so we get a chance to pet her.

Hi there, you are so pretty, I wish I could just take you home. She is looking back at me with gentle eyes, and a warm heart. You won’t hurt me right girl? I am going to swim with you next, so please don’t hurt me. I know she cannot answer me, and I know that am not speaking out loud, but I think that she understands me.

“Swim out there,” the trainer explains, “but not too far, and wait until you feel Nala’s nose on your foot, then grab onto the boogie board, and enjoy the ride,” he tells me, adding a smile at the end.

I push off the platform with my legs, and start paddling, the fear that I had earlier is almost all gone, but I still remind myself that there are no sharks out here. My dad is about five feet away, and he is telling me what to do.
It is hard to pay attention to him, because he looks so different. His hair is usually neatly combed off to the side, and it looks wonderful all the time.  But because it is wet right now, it looks like a dark brown mohawk on the top of his head.  I smile as he finishes talking.

“I understand, dad, it can’t be that hard,” I look at him, in a way that tells him I am not two years old.
I feel the water under me get pushed with a lot of force, and then I feel a rubbery nose on the bottom of my foot. My smile feels so big, I knew I could do it, see dad, I knew it. Then I feel the cold water engulf me again, and I realize that I didn’t go anywhere, her nose slipped off my foot. My confidence level goes down a lot. As I swim up next to my dad, I can feel him thinking, I was right, you should have listened to me.

This time, I stick both of my feet out, and cradle Nala’s nose, and she propels me out of the water.I can’t believe that an animal can lift me up so high, so effortlessly. Flying through the air, like a bird in the sky, I first look down at my ten family members, standing on the metal platform, and then, just before my ride ends, I look at the camera women, and she snaps a photo. 

As we carefully walk up the stairs to dry land, I am not sad that it is over, just glad that I got the chance to do it.
“Thank you so much, mom and dad!” I say, running up behind them and hugging them in one big group hug.
“You’re welcome,” my mom and dad both reply, “we are just glad you enjoyed yourself.”