After 29 weeks of waking up at six a.m. and heading to school, the day finally arrived! May 16th was the day my 6th grade classmates and I left for an adventure! We had to meet at school at six a.m. sharp! It was a two hour drive and, to be honest, I didn’t care who I was driving with. An hour and 40 minutes had passed and we saw a big boat. As we got closer the boat got bigger. I knew then that this was going to be an unforgettable experience!

It was the first time I was on a long boat ride, tilting to the left, tiling to the right. Wind blowing in my face, but not like the Titanic scenes, more like it was not a good time to wear lip gloss. My hair and my friends’ hair in my mouth! I sat down facing the direction we were heading, so that my hair would blow behind my head. After awhile I needed to pee, I couldn’t hold it any longer, not when the clear, blue ocean was kissing the sides of the boat. I went inside the boat, and a weird smell upset my nose, as I walked in I felt like I was in a zombie movie: pale faces, bodies lying round, kids dragging their feet, purple eyes, and ugh… barf bags! As I stood in front of the bathroom, I saw there was a line for both girls and boys restrooms, but then girls started coming out of the boys bathroom. What!? Then I noticed, that kids were lining up to barf, and it didn’t matter what bathroom they were using. Thank goodness I didn’t get sea sick! I saw my friend’s, Sofia’s, shoes poking out from underneath the stall, it had been her fifth time throwing up. Guilty, I started to back away, I couldn’t help her, I was gagging at the smell of acid and the sound of people choking! I walked out and decided to wait until we arrived.

“Hey what’s that over there?” Zion asked me. I turned my head 90 degrees to my left, and there I saw a triangle shape figured. The closer we got the bigger the triangle got and multiplied. One, two, then four beautiful mountains I saw! A smile appeared on my face and my heart beat faster and faster. My hands tightly gripped on the rail, as I jumped up and down from excitement! “Please stay seated and remain still, were bout to park the boat, please listen to your chaperons for directions.” the sailor said. I rushed to my seat and linked arms with my friends, Zoe and Carly. My class and I, lined up and headed down, to wear our luggage were.

The dock floated on the sea. As I rolled my luggage, I saw a shiny, gold, fish swimming, then I saw another and another! I felt like the Little Mermaid! We all gathered around and headed up to our cabins. The boys were half-way up the hill, which meant us girls, were at the top of the hill! Lucky us. “One… two…three… come on!” I huffed and puffed! I felt my leg muscles tighten. My cheeks were apple red from the heat and “exercise” I did. Then, everyone changed into their swim suites. We headed down the stairs and sat on the benches. Jackson and Jess, our councilors, talked to us- about the rules in general: no running, no hitting, stay with  group, no trying to drown somebody, etc. Then they explained how to put on and then wash out wet suites.

Struggling, to put our wet suites on, we had to help each other out. So uncomfortable, I wobbled like a penguin, because its was so tight I couldn’t move or bend any part of my body. Damp, and smelly, yet warm so the water won’t freeze our bodies. We all headed down to the dock and put on our flippers and snorkel gear on, disgusted at the fact that we had to spit in our goggles so they wouldn’t fog up. I was nervous, to jump into a different world.

Whosh! Tiny, bubbles float up and clear my view, and so I started swimming, Jess, we all head under the pier. Happily, swimming, the fishes swam like if we weren’t around. As I went  deeper into into the ocean, I saw all different kinds at fish. Swaying my arms, I noticed a wild string ray, my eyes widened, and accidentally inhaled water, which caused me to choke. Panicking, I swam the opposite way and what felt like an octopus grabbed my left leg. Maddy saw me struggling and swam towards me She. saw my leg trying to pull out. “Lupe! Calm down! And slowly untangle your leg from the sea weed,” she said. I turned my head to see my leg was wrapped in sea weed! Laughing at myself for over re-acting, I calmly pulled my leg out and swam toward my group. After an hour of snorkeling, we head out running in slow-mo thinking we were all that, then we to tripped over our flipper -fail.

Later that day, after dinner, we went up to our cabins to change. Not into our pajamas, but into our swimsuits! We hurried out the cabin doors and headed down the field. Jess and Jackson told us we were going NIGHT SNORKELING! I was frightened at the thought of swimming in pitch black water, I mean the ocean is so much prettier blue. We got into our wet suites and spat in our goggles and put on our flippers. This time we got flashlights and an extra swimming partner. We walked towards the dock and sat on the edge, and waited to be told to go. As I waited I wondered to myself, what we were going to see, weren’t all the fishes sleeping? “GO!” Jess had yelled. Whoosh! I was more nervous than ever, day snorkeling you were able to SEE where you were going, who and what were around you, and you were able to avoid dangerous sea creatures. However, night snorkeling you couldn’t see a thing! Maddy and Zion were right beside me, but even then I would get scared every time I bumped into their arms, thinking it was a shark! After a few minutes of swimming, glow sticks were seen at the bottom. We told Jackson and Jess they had dropped a few glow sticks, they laughed. They told us that those weren’t glow sticks, but that they were glo-fish. We were all amazed and shock that there was in fact fish that glowed at night.

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Its was our last day there, and we finally got to go kayaking! We first  ate breakfast then we headed back up to our cabins and changed into our swimsuits. We all headed down to the field and were waited to be instructed – we didn’t wear our wetsuits for kayaking. Jess and Jackson, had given us a five feet paddle to hold. We had practiced on how to use a paddle, and then we headed to the kayaks. Once we were five yards away from the shore we started to play games. After a while we just kayaked all around. Then, all of the sudden something had bumped my kayak, but there was no kayak close enough to bump us. I tilted to my right, then to my left, I noticed, a grayish brown figure, circling my area. I told my partner, Zion, and he freaked out. Zion fell out of the boat and asked me to pull him back in. I stretched out my arm, and Zion wanted to be funny, and decided to pulled me in with him! I laughed and playfully pushed his head underwater. But then, I felt something brush against my legs. Zion’s and my laughter suddenly faded. We looked at each other and notice that, the figure we saw before,was a…. wild sea lion! We froze and didn’t hesitate to not move a muscle. The sea lion circled around us, then left , -whew! We quickly hopped back into the kayak and paddled back to the group! Then, everyone saw the sea lion. Jackson told us to not bother the creature because he was a wild animal and wasn’t use to being around people. The sea lion suddenly, leaped out of the water and had caught a fish in its mouth. The creature was hunting, swooped from underneath everyone’s kayaks and was catching its pray! I had never seen a wild sea lion in person, especially when they were hunting!

Then we had to start packing our stuff to leave. I will never forget the adventure I had with all my friends. It had been my first time on a boat, first time on an island, first time leaving my comfort place, and first time exploring the ocean! I will always remember my 6th grade trip to Catalina Island.