Girls' Camp High Adventure Snorkeling Trip: Key Largo

in our stake the fourth year girls (age 15) go on a "high adventure" trip for most of the week of girls' camp. i was asked to come along as one of the leaders, which i loved. {back in my day we went backpacking in the appalachian mountains and whitewater river rafting. it was the best. anddd it might've helped that my dad was stake president back then and could pull some strings...}

 there were about 15 girls and their trip was tent camping {on really hard rocks} at john pennekamp in key largo, snorkeling on a reef, and kayaking. it was a incredibly fun and extremely hot. whoever said florida was paradise?! {especially since the AC in our suburban stopped working the second we loaded up and headed south. but at least i had keith johnson there to tell me all about his world-wide archaeological exploits for the book of mormon in the car. so incredibly fascinating. when his book comes out, you'll all need to read it!}.

i mostly just used my underwater camera to take pictures of the snorkeling portion...whoops.

trying to take pictures of fish before they swim away is harder than you would think. especially if one of your arms is occupied by someone else {more on that later}.

i just love the way some of these came out:

 teresita! we were snorkeling buddies. i was supposed to swim ahead and help with the advanced group but she was really nervous {she was shaking, poor thing!} so i stayed behind and had her cling on to me for dear life the entire time. i have never swam with someone attached to me and let me tell you it is DANG hard. especially with the current and me doing most of the work. i feel really bad that this picture didn't come out well...this was her first time snorkeling and i was so proud of her, she did great! i even had her an arms-length away and taking pictures by the end of it! so fun!

i know. blindingly white. 

fritz-mide! i spent the beginning of the trip stuck to the ladder of the boat holding her hand trying to convince her that if she got in the water i PROMISED she would be okay and no sharks would eat her. eventually she did brave getting in and said it was worth it. gold star. 

and, a random picture of one of the beaches we watercolor painted, did yoga, and had devotional at:

later that day we went kayaking and saw a manatee! my whole life living in florida and that is only the second time i have ever seen one! i am absolutely in love with kayaking & canoeing. {when i was little i was obsessed with pocahontas {and still am}, so it is only natural. i mean other than belle, i obviously identify with her the most- i would paint with the colors of the wind, play with animals, and be one with nature in a heartbeat}. but kayaking was quite the fiasco. i got tipped twice trying to help others with theirs. at one point about 4 or 5 were tipped all at once. it was pretty hilarious. and i only got a tiny tiny bit sunburned. i'm pretty happy about that. overall: AWESOME. high adventures are the best, and being a leader is always a perk. so glad they asked me to come!