Jenny Cannoles 454-59-4721 Sharing Nature Some people are just naturally lovers of nature. My younger sister, Jill, is definitely in this category. Since I can remember she has just been fascinated by every in nature. She has an amazing respect and passion for animals, an astonishing value for the out doors and a curiosity for all things that are related to nature. She has had more of an influence on me than any other person has. I truly respect her for her love and esteem for the out doors. And because of this I agreed to take classes with her to become a certified scuba diver when she asked me to. Honestly, I had absolutely no interest in learning how to scuba dive. I thought it would be a total waste of my time and never come in use. But still, I signed up for the classes with her and my father who was already certified, but wanted to be there with us. The classes were every Thursday from 4:00 to 8:00, FOUR HOURS!!! Imagine how boring. The first few classes were so not fun. We learned about air compression, the equipment and all those technical terms. I wanted to quit so badly. The first time we actually put on the equipment and went in the training pool, I fell in love. It was so exhilarating. I was breathing under water. And the best part was that I had my sister to experience it with and to talk to it about. I wish that I could explain exactly how it made me feel. I have never been more scared and excited at the same time before. And I was only in a pool. From then on I loved classes. The bookwork and tests seemed interesting somehow. My sister and I would study all the time, chapters ahead. The next nine weeks all I looked forward to was Thursday. And then when we had passed the class and were able to go on our first actual dive at Lake Possum Kingdom, we went into total shock. It was even more amazing. We were underwater swimming freely with fish. I mean wow. And I was so glad to have my little sister there as my buddy. So after diving in the lake a couple times my family went on our first scuba diving vacation. We planed a trip to the Cayman Islands with Arlington Scuba Center. I had already been to the Virgin Islands and snorkeled, so I thought it would be pretty much the same. But while we were there our first dive was a night dive. It was so amazing to be underwater and only seeing an arm's reach in front of you. It was again so exciting and so scary at the same time. Our next dive was a morning dive. We had to be at the boat by 4:00 am. I tried to convince my dad to let me sleep through just this one, but while he was telling me that it was okay Jill was pulling the covers off of me and packing my bag for me. And again it was beautiful. It seems like every time is different, more beautiful, more breath taking. Even at the same dive sight, you never see the same thing. My most memorable dive would have to be at "Stingray City." We went off the coast to a spot where stingrays congregate. Our instructor told us that to avoid getting stung, we should keep our arms folded tightly against our stomachs. And that we should also avoid any fast movements. He then told us that there are a lot of stingrays down there and that they get very friendly because he put food in our vest pockets. So, I made Jill go first, as always, and when I saw no blood in the water I jumped in. Little did I know that the stingrays were right there in the water. They swarmed me as I slowly sank to the bottom with my arms tight around my waist. As I hit the bottom, sand flew up. By the time it cleared there was one stingray that took particular liking to me. It swam over my head and sucked on my hair. By this time I was balling inside of my mask. While Jill was over reaching out and touching every stingray that passed, I was not moving an inch and balling. I stared at her the whole time I was down there, that is when my tears were not blocking my sight. She seemed so happy and so calm. I could not believe her. So I signaled her over to me, moving my arms as little as possible, and grabbed her hand and put it into my vest pocket. Luckily she understood that I wanted her to take out the food and put it into her pockets. As I slowly swam to the boat, I looked back and saw that crazy girl hand-feeding those creatures. The first one back I sat on the boat and looked over the side. I was scared for her. I thought she would get stung. While I was trying to find her my dad climbed onto the boat bleeding from his fore arm. He had gotten stung just sitting there with his arms crossed. We talked about Jill and how absolutely amazing she was. My forty-six year old dad even admitted to being scared, yet Jill was so happy. About twenty minutes went by and the other divers started to come up. We waited and waited for Jill so we could ask her all about it. SO we waited another ten minutes and she still was not up. We started to get scared, so we told our guide and he went back down to find her. It turns out she had laid down flat and let the stingrays cover her like a blanket. Our guide found her and singled her that her air was running low so she had to come up. On the way back to the beach he told everyone about her and how he had never, in his fifteen years as an instructor, seen anything like that. He was just as amazed as everyone else on the boat was. Our last dive was in an underwater cave called "the Devil's Belly." It was the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen. Plants of all size and color swarmed the walls. Fish would swim right up to you. It was the deepest and longest dive I had done. But I never got nervous. Jill kept me too busy. By then I had learned that I had to follow her in order not to loose her. She would just swim off and totally leave the group and then I would be left with out a partner, which is the number one rule in diving. Before we knew it the rest of the divers were totally out of sight. I had no idea where we were, how far from the boat, how much air we had left or how deep we were. I signaled Jill and told her that we should go back. So we started to head back to the group. By the time we got there they had all gone. Had they gone back to the boat or just to another dive spot? I freaked out. Once I started to cry Jill signaled to me that we should go up and see where we were. We reached the top and saw the boat miles away. SO we swam laughing and talking the whole way. I had so much fun that vacation. Jill and I were so close. We would stay up all night long comparing stories about while we were under. Of course hers always beat mine. I would have never enjoyed all that I experienced that week if I had not had Jill to share it with. Nature is a truly great and amazing thing, but it is even more special if you have someone to share it with, someone like Jill. Jenny Cannoles 454-59-4721 Sharing Nature Some people are just naturally lovers of nature. My younger sister, Jill, is definitely in this category. Since I can remember she has just been fascinated by every in nature. She has an amazing respect and passion for animals, an astonishing value for the out doors and a curiosity for all things that are related to nature. She has had more of an influence on me than any other person has. I truly respect her for her love and esteem for the out doors. And because of this I agreed to take classes with her to become a certified scuba diver when she asked me to. Honestly, I had absolutely no interest in learning how to scuba dive. I thought it would be a total waste of my time and never come in use. But still, I signed up for the classes with her and my father who was already certified, but wanted to be there with us. The classes were every Thursday from 4:00 to 8:00, FOUR HOURS!!! Imagine how boring. The first few classes were so not fun. We learned about air compression, the equipment and all those technical terms. I wanted to quit so badly. The first time we actually put on the equipment and went in the training pool, I fell in love. It was so exhilarating. I was breathing under water. And the best part was that I had my sister to experience it with and to talk to it about. I wish that I could explain exactly how it made me feel. I have never been more scared and excited at the same time before. And I was only in a pool. From then on I loved classes. The bookwork and tests seemed interesting somehow. My sister and I would study all the time, chapters ahead. The next nine weeks all I looked forward to was Thursday. And then when we had passed the class and were able to go on our first actual dive at Lake Possum Kingdom, we went into total shock. It was even more amazing. We were underwater swimming freely with fish. I mean wow. And I was so glad to have my little sister there as my buddy. So after diving in the lake a couple times my family went on our first scuba diving vacation. We planed a trip to the Cayman Islands with Arlington Scuba Center. I had already been to the Virgin Islands and snorkeled, so I thought it would be pretty much the same. But while we were there our first dive was a night dive. It was so amazing to be underwater and only seeing an arm's reach in front of you. It was again so exciting and so scary at the same time. Our next dive was a morning dive. We had to be at the boat by 4:00 am. I tried to convince my dad to let me sleep through just this one, but while he was telling me that it was okay Jill was pulling the covers off of me and packing my bag for me. And again it was beautiful. It seems like every time is different, more beautiful, more breath taking. Even at the same dive sight, you never see the same thing. My most memorable dive would have to be at "Stingray City." We went off the coast to a spot where stingrays congregate. Our instructor told us that to avoid getting stung, we should keep our arms folded tightly against our stomachs. And that we should also avoid any fast movements. He then told us that there are a lot of stingrays down there and that they get very friendly because he put food in our vest pockets. So, I made Jill go first, as always, and when I saw no blood in the water I jumped in. Little did I know that the stingrays were right there in the water. They swarmed me as I slowly sank to the bottom with my arms tight around my waist. As I hit the bottom, sand flew up. By the time it cleared there was one stingray that took particular liking to me. It swam over my head and sucked on my hair. By this time I was balling inside of my mask. While Jill was over reaching out and touching every stingray that passed, I was not moving an inch and balling. I stared at her the whole time I was down there, that is when my tears were not blocking my sight. She seemed so happy and so calm. I could not believe her. So I signaled her over to me, moving my arms as little as possible, and grabbed her hand and put it into my vest pocket. Luckily she understood that I wanted her to take out the food and put it into her pockets. As I slowly swam to the boat, I looked back and saw that crazy girl hand-feeding those creatures. The first one back I sat on the boat and looked over the side. I was scared for her. I thought she would get stung. While I was trying to find her my dad climbed onto the boat bleeding from his fore arm. He had gotten stung just sitting there with his arms crossed. We talked about Jill and how absolutely amazing she was. My forty-six year old dad even admitted to being scared, yet Jill was so happy. About twenty minutes went by and the other divers started to come up. We waited and waited for Jill so we could ask her all about it. SO we waited another ten minutes and she still was not up. We started to get scared, so we told our guide and he went back down to find her. It turns out she had laid down flat and let the stingrays cover her like a blanket. Our guide found her and singled her that her air was running low so she had to come up. On the way back to the beach he told everyone about her and how he had never, in his fifteen years as an instructor, seen anything like that. He was just as amazed as everyone else on the boat was. Our last dive was in an underwater cave called "the Devil's Belly." It was the most beautiful thing that I have ever seen. Plants of all size and color swarmed the walls. Fish would swim right up to you. It was the deepest and longest dive I had done. But I never got nervous. Jill kept me too busy. By then I had learned that I had to follow her in order not to loose her. She would just swim off and totally leave the group and then I would be left with out a partner, which is the number one rule in diving. Before we knew it the rest of the divers were totally out of sight. I had no idea where we were, how far from the boat, how much air we had left or how deep we were. I signaled Jill and told her that we should go back. So we started to head back to the group. By the time we got there they had all gone. Had they gone back to the boat or just to another dive spot? I freaked out. Once I started to cry Jill signaled to me that we should go up and see where we were. We reached the top and saw the boat miles away. SO we swam laughing and talking the whole way. I had so much fun that vacation. Jill and I were so close. We would stay up all night long comparing stories about while we were under. Of course hers always beat mine. I would have never enjoyed all that I experienced that week if I had not had Jill to share it with. Nature is a truly great and amazing thing, but it is even more special if you have someone to share it with, someone like Jill.