We had our standard morning panic. "Tara!" I yelled, "Get out of the bathroom." There was no answer - the standard teenager reply. "We're going to be late!" I yelled again. Still no answer. It was 7:15 and we still needed to call a water taxi.

Calling a water taxi in Galapagos is always precarious business. The script goes something like this:

"Taxi Aquatico, Taxi Aquatico, Adventure." You then wait. Sometimes you get something simple back on the radio. "Copia, Copia." This means that they heard you and a taxi will "probably" come. Sometimes you get a set of Spanish phrases that had obviously been recorded earlier and is now being played back at high speed. I can see it now: "Hey Jose! Watch me freak out the American." When this occurs, I just go out in the cockpit and go to plan B.

When a water taxi drives by we whistle. Since none of us can whistle very loudly, we use our emergency whistle. I then make wild gyrations to the taxi driver in hopes that will perk his curiosity, and he'll come closer to satisfy his curiosity.

Our taxi came easily this morning, to my great relief. We boarded and began our 5 minute track to the dock. Galapagos is a small place and after you've been here for awhile people get to know you. One of our guides saw us.

"Kathy!" he yelled as he walked toward us. "Tara! Casey!" he continued as he gave hugs as if we were all long lost friends. He turned to me last and held out his hand. "Mr... How are you?" Yes, Galapagos is a special place where everyone knows your name.

We got into our dive boat and sat down. The boat is small, around 25 feet and contains two long bench seats that can hold about 12 people.

Enrique gave us a price break the previous day because only two people had signed up to go to Floreana. But now the boat contained 12 tourists, 3 divers, and the captain.

I smiled, because I knew what was coming. Floreana is 42 miles away and this small boat would be traveling at 20 knots in order to get there in a reasonable period of time. The seas around Galapagos are not always smooth, and today was no exception.

We blasted out of the anchorage and the boat was very quite. Everyone was practicing their anti-seasickness technique. I've never gotten seasick and I was enjoying the spectacle. I decided to have some fun.

"Woo-hoo! Wow! That's great!" I yelled as the boat caught some air off of a rather large swell. "I sure hope no one gets SEA SICK!" I looked around the boat to see who wasn't going to make it. Yes, I know it was cruel. I just couldn't help myself. Being short and bald, I really have little else to cling to. Kathy quickly told me to shut my mouth.

A small child looked pale. Kathy started digging in her backpack for Bonine, a sea sickness remedy. The child didn't make it in time. A few minutes later, her Dad succumbed. The captain yelled at him to not throw-up on the boat. Tara then started to turn pale. Kathy handed her a Bonine.

Tara started to look pale. Kathy gave her a Bonine and I gave Tara a pep talk. "Tara. Don't give them the satisfaction." I said referring to all the other people in the boat, "See how many people you can outlast."

The guy across from us was reading a parody on George Bush. His face became red and then pale. His eyes closed. Almost there, I thought. And then, the seas calmed.

Casey sat across, and down, from me and we entertained ourselves with sign language. "You Pizza?" I signed. "No." "You McDonalds?" "No." "You toliet?" Exasperated looks came from Casey so I decided to stop. I couldn't remember any other signs, anyway.

We arrived at our first site and Enrique explained that he'd only be taking Kathy and Tara first. Casey and I could snorkel, but we still needed to put on our wet suits.

Casey and I jumped into the water. My mask started leaking right away and I started to wonder what would happen when I was 20 feet down. I quickly came up with a solution: "Hey Casey! See if this mask fits you better."

Now that Casey had the leaking mask, it was much better. She's a good sport about these things. I tried to take it back, but she wouldn't hear of it. We got her a new mask later.

Tara and Kathy were in the water practicing. There were lots of bubbles coming from their mouths.

As Casey and I snorkeled, I tried to dive down below to get some pictures. However, the wet suits are very buoyant. I'd take a deep breath and kick like mad to get below the surface. There was a lot of surge at the anchorage and our snorkels kept getting fouled with water. The water was very clear, though, and Casey and I were very excited to see a sea turtle appear. We chased him down and I began to really wish I had my spear gun. I envisioned having the turtle on a spit with an apple in his mouth, turning round and round. Darn rules, I thought.

The dive boat drops divers and snorkelers off at various locations and then drives from spot to spot. Each location has a guide and, Fabio, was with Casey and me. The other snokelers gave up early because of the surge. Casey and I watched Tara and Kathy for a long time in hopes that we could gleam some small tidbit of advantage when it was our turn.

Once packed up when went to the sea lion location. There, on the rocks, were lots of sea lions. We then heard the following speech.

"This is a protected area. Do not touch the sea lions. Try to stay 2 meters away from the sea lions. Blah... Blah... Blah..." I imagined that the following speech was being given from the island among the sea lions.

"These are protected tourists. Stay 2 meters from the tourists. Do not touch the tourists. Do not bite the tourist. Do not eat the tourists."

Casey and I put on our dive tanks and sat on the edge of the dive boat. We put on our masks, and placed the regulator in our mouths. I then fell backwards - just like on National Geographic. Casey would follow me in a minute. I quickly became immersed in water.

I was immediately accosted by a sea lion. He swam around me like I was standing still (Which I was). He beckoned me. "Follow me, if you dare."

Out of the corner of my eye I saw Enrique motioning for me to come towards him. I looked toward the sea lion and back at Enrique. Would I follow the sea lion, or go towards Enrique?

I then remembered that I had no idea what I was doing. I followed, obediently, Enrique's hand. He grabbed me, roughly, as I got closer and motioned me to hold on to the anchor line. I could see the bottom easily as I looked down. I noticed that the sea lion was biting the anchor rode connected to the anchor. Hmm, I thought. That's probably what happened to my anchor rode.

Enrique let air out of my BCD (Buoyancy compensation device) and I began to sink under the water. I then was told to fill my mask with water and clear it. I know what you're thinking: Yes, I was able to do it. Casey came over and did the same exercise. We then sank to the bottom. My depth gauge read 25 feet.

Breathing through a regulator is very easy. There's no resistance and the only difficulty is holding it in your mouth. However, there's difficulty in controlling your breathing. I quickly developed the following technique: Breath in; Breath out; hold and say to yourself, "Luke! I am your father." in a Darth Vader cadence. I would then repeat the process.

Enrique helped us learn how to achieve neutral buoyancy at the bottom. It was amazing to be completely immersed and weightless in a foreign environment. I had no idea what I was missing. It was really neat.

After 10 minutes Tara and Kathy joined us. Enrique then took us all around and showed us various sea life. A lot of the sea life was the same as in the Sea of Cortez and we recognized it quickly.

The sea lions were very curious and they were all around us. When Enrique gave us instructions' we'd have trouble concentrating because a sea lion were directly over his head.

The longer we were down, the more aggressive the sea lions got. One sea lion started biting on Kathy's regulator hose. Another grabbed onto Enrique's head. Tara head was then attacked. It was all playful though. One sea lion grabbed onto my forearm. He gnawed on it like a playful puppy. I kept thinking, "I'm not touching. I'm not touching. It's not my fault." We all had a good laugh down under the water.

We finished up with lunch and headed home. It was a great day. It's always amazing to me how easily a bad experience, like losing an anchor, can lead to such a great experience. I am so often in awe of how God can use such events as a testament of his love for us. How wonderful, beautiful and boundless God's creation really is. How clearly miracles occur in our lives each and every day if we only look