All the Pretty Fishes

The island of Maui was the perfect spot for romance and adventure. I didn't know it would also prove to be the perfect place for sheer terror. All I wanted to do was to see pretty tropical fish.

My boyfriend was an experienced diver. He had been all over the world with his scuba gear and underwater cameras and I was in love with all his pictures of tropical fish. When he suggested a trip to Maui I was very excited to say the least. I'd never been there. He had planned the whole trip, booking a suite for us at a lovely resort which included a few side trips. One was a kayaking afternoon; another was a short hop to the island of Kauai for 2 days; plus a couple of guided snorkeling trips around Maui.

Snorkeling. Here's where my challenge lay. I didn't know how to snorkel. In fact, I wasn't a very good swimmer. Oh, I could save my life with a lot of splashing and dog-paddling, but in no way could you call that swimming. However my boyfriend assured me there was nothing to it.

Our first day on the island we went to a dive shop and rented all the gear my boyfriend felt we'd need for our stay. I got to pick out the color of flippers, snorkel and face mask. I chose pink. He chose blue. We certainly were predictable. Once back at our suite he showed me how to wear the gear and then we went out to the resort's pool.

Over about an hour I learned how to snorkel in a pool. I choked and swallowed only a small amount of water until getting the hang of it. To celebrate my not drowning we had a rather nice lunch. Then came the announcement that we would have our first snorkeling adventure that very afternoon.

My boyfriend said we'd see colorful tropical fish. The big plus for me was that we wouldn't be going into very deep water. In fact where we were going was water you could stand in. But to see the fish that were swimming around your feet - to really appreciate their stunning shapes and colors - you'd need to plant your face in the water. The snorkel gear would allow that.

I was rather beside myself with excitement. This was new. This was something I had never before in my life done. I was rather proud of myself for being brave enough to step out of my comfort zone. Didn't matter that the water wouldn't be over my head. What did matter was that there would be swimming, living creatures around me and that to see them I would need to put my face in the water and rely on that tube thing to get oxygen.

And at first, the experience was everything promised. It felt like I was inside an aquarium. There were so many colors. So many sizes and shapes of fish. They would swim by my legs and over my feet. I got comfortable enough to move around. But not too fast because I didn't want to frighten away the fish. I was thoroughly enchanted.

I'd lost track of my boyfriend. I knew he had his waterproof camera and was probably taking photos of me as I played with the fish. I saw a shadow out of the corner of my eye and thought it was him. The shadow got a bit larger and the fish at my feet began to swim away. Looking over my shoulder I saw something strange. Kind of looked liked a turtle. A really big turtle. My boyfriend told me later that I had seen a Hawksbill Sea Turtle and admitted that they could look rather intimidating.

Thing was, I wasn't just intimidated, I was frightened. It was one thing to be brave enough to walk around with tropical fish swimming around my feet and quite another to come face-to-face with a scary-looking sea turtle. I hadn't bargained on that. So I did the only thing I could - I ran. I moved as quickly as I could through the water towards some rocks. I thought maybe I could hide behind one of the rocks and maybe the turtle would go away.

I made it to the rocks. The water was deeper there and to keep my head above water I had to use my flippers. I still had the snorkel and mask in place and was about to remove them when I saw my boyfriend in the distance. He was acting strange. It looked like he was trying to signal something to me, pantomiming some kind of instruction. What? Did he want me to quit moving my feet? Did he want me to swim? I started to take off my mask and he vigorously shook his head NO. Okay, I kept it on.

Then he pantomimed swimming, doing the hand over hand thing - which he knew I didn't do well. What the heck, I thought. So I kind of laid on my side and began swimming the best I could with the snorkel and mask still in place. My boyfriend wasn't coming any closer to help me, which I thought odd, but he did look as though he was trying to encourage me to put more speed into my swim.

Finally I reached him. He helped me to swim back to the place I'd first started my snorkeling adventure and we worked our way up to the beach.

Once I took off the snorkel and and mask I just stared at him.

"What was all that about?" I asked. I was tired and confused.

"Oh, nothing much," he said with what looked like a mix of amusement, love and concern in his eye. "Why did you go into those rocks?"

"I got scared by that giant turtle!"

He just looked at me. "Turtle? You were scared by a turtle so you go hide in some rocks and didn't see the Tiger Shark?"

I wasn't sure I was hearing him right. "You said shark? Why was there a shark there at all? Why would you let me do my first snorkeling adventure where there are sharks?" It was one thing to have come within kissing distance to a big turtle but something else again to nearly be eaten by a shark. It took some convincing before I would believe that the shark would not have eaten me.

We did enjoy the rest of our vacation. We learned about the creatures who inhabit the waters of the Hawiian Islands and how to avoid the sharks; and did go snorkeling again. The tropics truly are a paradise, both on land and in the sea. And we did take home memories to last a lifetime. But as for me, I'll always remember the time I was nearly lunch for a Tiger Shark.