Two March breaks ago my mom, older sister, younger sister and I went to Mexico. It was the first time I would ever be out of Canada. I had no idea what to expect.

The day after we arrived, I woke up bright and early excited to see new things. We all decided to go to the beach. We walked over to the breakfast buffet, then the lazy river, and then saw all the exotic animals along the way. Finally we reached the beach.

My sisters and I kicked off our sandals and ran towards the water. The hot, grainy sand stung our feet with sharp and small rocks. As we got into the water and the waves started splashing on our legs, I looked over and saw a small red crab! My sisters and I ran to our mom and dragged her over to the crab. My sisters and I smiled and talked about what we observed. My mom laughed and smiled.

We were all in our swim suits so we decided to hop into the cool, clear water. As we slowly walked in we felt the rocks again spiking the souls out our feet. We dove into the water hoping to give our feet a break.

I dove under the surface and the salt water stung my eyes. I kicked up to the top of the water where I accidentally took a gulp of water quickly and swallowed it! I started to cough while breaking the surface. My mom came over to check to see if I was okay, I stood up beside her.

I felt something brush my lower leg and looked down not expecting to see multiple colourful fish, red, bright yellow, and grey fish. I jumped onto my mom who also saw the fish and started laughing.

She dropped me back into the salty water. I opened my eyes and saw them quickly swim away. After that I really started to appreciate how beautiful waters are and why we need to protect them.