[Kate] Exotic Places Where I've Swum

I've done my far share of swimming in my life, especially when we moved to our California house, which has a pool in the backyard.  Not only that, I've done some swimming in other countries during our family travels.  Inspired by the day's events, here are three especially exotic places I've swum in:

1)  A Collapsed Hole of a Volcano with Sharks

This is me getting ready
for snorkeling on that day

This was in the Galapagos, before this trip, in December 2017 during Christmas break.  We were on a cruise-like boat, although much smaller.  For the afternoon activity we went to a beach inside the Caldera-bay area where our boat was anchored.  A Caldera is a volcanic crater, specifically one formed by a huge explosion that collapsed the mouth of the volcano.  On that beach we started snorkeling, seeing lots of super amazing fish as far as we could peer through the fascinatingly clear water.  We had been warned there could be sharks, but I still also shot out of the water like a missile when I saw a shark's silhouette through the gloom.  My family didn't believe that I had seen a shark until we got closer.  It was laying on the sand.  Dad even swam down and got close enough to touch it.








2)  The Great Barrier Reef

This is a photo of Hastings, an area of the Great Barrier Reef
were we swam

This was super recent, just yesterday as of the the day I am writing this.  We took a boat out to the Great Barrier Reef and snorkeled through it, seeing lots of fish and different types of coral.  We also received a very basic education on some fish and some types of coral.  Plus we finished the day off with cake supplied by the boat.  That cannot hurt.






3)  A Pool at the Base of a Waterfall in the Rainforest

This is the three kids during swimming,
the waterfall in the background

This was today, and it was glorious.  The scenery of just the rainforest was beautiful.  Add the thundering waterfall with fresh mist streaming off, it was simply breathtaking.  The water was a little chilly but I grew accustomed to it fairly quickly and swam through the pool and even around the place where the waterfall ended.  Dad, Grace and Cannon actually swam through/under the waterfall itself.  It was wonderful!  And we got to mimic a hair commercial set there with a very wet hair flip.