April 12, 2013 - The Geneva School

We arrived early at the marina, ate a nice picnic lunch, andthen boarded the boat. We received our gear: wetsuit, snorkel,life vest, and dive fins. Next we arrived at our first reef.Everyone paired up and jumped in. It was a very calmingexperience to see all the fish and the ancient coral.About twenty minutes later, we boarded the boat again andheaded to our second destination. This second reef was older,so it was closer to the surface. We had to make sure that wewere extra careful and that we did not touch the coral. We allfinished and headed back to the marina. The snorkeling adventurewas a very pleasant ending to a great Everglades trip.Catherine JohnsonWhen we returned to our campsite most afternoons, we enjoyedsome free time before we gathered together again in theevenings to share a meal. We also went on several night hikes,roasted marshmallows to make s’mores, and sang hymns andsongs around the campfire.On Tuesday evening, Mr. Andreasen led us on a night hiketo Eco Pond. We hiked without flashlights, so we were surroundedby complete darkness. It was a walk by faith, “for wewalk by faith, not by sight” (2 Corinthians 5:7). The hike wasan illustration of the Christian journey. There are times whenwe can only see one step ahead of us, and we must trust thatGod will show us the way. We also need fellowship with otherChristians so that we can help and encourage one another.Without any artificial light, the beautiful stars were so brightin contrast to the darkness around us. Our other senses weresharpened. When we silently stopped beside the pond, weheard crickets in the trees, mosquitoes buzzing nearby, and anoccasional splash in the water.On the way back to our campsite on Thursday, after a dayof snorkeling, we stopped at Anhinga Trail to look for alligatorsat night. About halfway down the trail, standingon a boardwalk just a few feet above the water, we observedat least twelve alligators biting off reeds and small branches.They then carried them in their mouths or on their backsto another area farther away from the boardwalk. No one,not even Mr. Andreasen, was quite certain what the alligatorswere doing, but they appeared to be building nests. Aswe continued along the path, shining our flashlights in thewater, we could see glowing, yellow-orange eyes moving offin the distance.I had not been looking forward to the Everglades trip; in fact,I had been dreading it. However, I found that it was notnearly as terrible as I had expected it to be. Of course, therewere the cold showers and the two hours of torture by mosquitoeson Tuesday night, but I was not eaten by an alligator,I did not drown on the snorkeling trip, and I did not see asingle snake!Photographs by Shelley Downward and Joshua MeyerPage 19