When I was 11, my family decided to take a trip to Belize for a week with my grandparents. We went to many different spots and snorkeled. On the last day, at the last minute, we signed up to snorkel with… sharks. I did not think this was a good idea - at all.

That morning, this big blue boat picked us up and boated us to Shark Ray Alley. Now, even the name makes this place sound intense. While the guide was explaining everything, my only thought was that this was going to be the last time I saw my family. I was one-hundred percent sure that all these sharks swimming around us were going to eat me alive. Will I ever see my dog again?... Will my family forget about me?... I had so many questions running through my head.

It was now time to get into the water and obviously I was the last person in. My mom went first, then my grandpa, then my uncle, then my grandma. Finally, everyone was in except for me and my older cousin. We had decided to hold hands and count to three. We then jumped off of the side of the boat and now we were in the water… with the sharks. I looked down to make sure nothing would bite my toes, even though I had flippers on. I began to swim. I was beside my mom when she said there was a shark coming up behind us. I knew this was my last second alive. I turned my head to see how big this shark was that I was going to be eaten by in less than 5 minutes. I was shocked, this shark was only like 4 feet and basically a big friendly fish.

The rest of this adventure was unreal. It has probably been one of my favorite memories in water. Swimming for at least a few hours with these super cool sharks, eels, and stingrays. It was crazy! I could not believe that the whole time I was worrying about 50 foot sharks eating me to death. I could not believe no one had told me how small these sharks actually were.

The guides on the boat would throw fish in the water and we could watch the sharks eat them - it was insane. When we finally got out, you could see all the other heads bobbing around and swimming with sharks. We then boated to another place called Mexico Rocks, but I knew that swimming with sharks in Shark Ray alley was something I would never forget.