Personal Narrative: My Ecology Trip To Mexico

It was early February of 2014. I had decided to go on an ecology trip with my biology club to Baja, Mexico. This was something very new to me, given, I had never been away from home for more than a week, let alone out of the country. This gave me the chance to try something completely out of my comfort zone and to experience something so incredible that I would never regret. It all started on a cold Wisconsin morning. The snow fall was heavy and the sky was dark, as if it were night. Our group met up at the school and boarded a bus as we said our last goodbyes to our families. We then headed off to the airport.
Many hours later we found ourselves in the beautiful, warm Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. We then made our way to the island of La Paz, where we would be staying for seven days, by boat. The hot sun beat down on our sunscreen- covered skin as the ocean’s waves gently rocked the boat. On the way we saw dolphins and many new and interesting creatures that I had never seen before. At this point I had taken it all in because I had never been to the ocean before this

We laid down the tape measure and were given sheets to track the certain species we were looking for. It was my turn and I swam with the instructor and pointed out every animal that we had to keep track of. I swam down just to get a better look at the rocky, discolored sand to make sure we weren’t missing an animal that could potentially be hiding from us. After that I went to the surface and it got me. I had been stung by a jellyfish. Surely enough as I looked over there it was. A translucent body with long flowing tentacles. This was the most shocking and painful experience I had ever encountered. Moments later I struggled to swim back to the boat. I was in so much pain at this point, but I finally made it. My instructors were confused because I didn’t say anything, just sat there in