Yes! Only a half day of school today! thought Sam excitedly as he sat down at his desk. He spent more time that day looking at the clock than at his lessons. The last day of school before Christmas break never goes by fast enough.

He was studying about Moses when the final bell rang and class was dismissed. He grabbed his ski jacket and book bag and went to the front driveway of the school, where he anxiously eyed the parking lot for his dad’s car.  

Where could he be? Sam thought. Today was a special day because in a few hours their family would be catching a flight at the airport.

Sam’s dad was a nature scientist. Once in a while he would travel to different parts of the world to do research and document new studies. On special occasions the whole family got to along, too, and today was one of those days.

Sam stood at the curb, watching and waiting. Snowflakes had just started to fall when his sister Gina came up behind him. “Is he here yet?” she asked.

“Nope,” Sam replied. “He’ll probably be a few minutes late since he always eats lunch with Grandma and Grandpa on Wednesdays.”

Gina could hardly contain her excitement. “I can’t wait to get there. Cozumel sounds like so much fun! I can’t believe we get to go with Dad this time.”

Sam added, “And this is a good chance to practice the two S’s: Spanish and snorkeling!” Gina and Sam laughed together.

Sam looked sideways at Gina and said, “Don’t forget Dad’s going there to work, so we have to stay out of trouble. Remember last time we tried to go snorkeling alone and got in trouble.”

Just then their father pulled up. “Hey, guys! You ready to go to Cozumel?” His eyes sparkled as they always did right before a trip.

Sam and Gina replied in unison, “Yeah! Let’s go!” as they jumped into the car.

Dad looked back at the kids as they fastened their seatbelts. “Let’s pick up Mom and the bags and head to the airport!”

Sam walked onto the airplane just as the pilot was standing at the cockpit door. The pilot greeted him. “Hello, young man.”

Sam responded, “Hello, sir! Hey, could you tell me how fast this plane flies?”

The pilot chuckled. “Well, I’d say we could take this aircraft up to about 600 miles per hour.”

“Wow, is that faster than the speed of sound?” asked Sam.

“No. Sound travels 770 miles per hour,” the pilot replied with a smile. “Are you in such a big hurry to get to Cozumel?”

“Yeah, I can’t wait to get there!” said Sam as he continued down the aisle toward their seats.

Gina looked at the boarding passes. “We’re sitting in row 17, seats A through D.” Gina walked ahead and found their seats. The plane was a Boeing 737, so there were three seats on each side of the aisle.

”I wonder if this is a full flight?” said Sam as Gina plopped herself down in seat 17A, put her nose against the window, and looked outside.

“Most flights around the holidays are pretty full,” answered Dad as he sat down and fastened his seatbelt.

Mom looked at her watch and said, “I just hope this snow doesn’t delay our flight. The sooner we take off, the happier I’ll be.”

Sam sat back and thought, I’m just glad I’m not in school for the next two weeks!

Just then the pilot’s voice came over the loudspeaker. “Welcome, everyone. Our flight today is approximately four hours long, and we’ll be flying at about 35,000 feet. Sit back and enjoy the flight.”

Sam had a calculator watch and started punching away. “Wow, that’s like six miles high. And if we’re going 600 miles per hour, that’s 10 miles per minute!”

The plane began to taxi toward the runway. As usual, Dad reminded the rest of the family to pray before the plane took off.

After praying, Dad leaned across the aisle to Sam and said, “Did any of you guys bring chewing gum? I forgot to buy some, and my ears always pop on a plane.”

Sam replied, “I don’t have any. Let me ask Mom.”

“Sorry, no gum,” said Mom.

“I guess you’ll just have to swallow saliva,” Sam told Dad.

“This book says that Cozumel is only 10 miles wide and 30 miles long,” announced Gina. “Doesn’t seem like a very big island.”

Sam leaned across the aisle to Dad and asked, “So, Dad, tell me again about these tunnels you’re going to see.”

Dad put his book down and looked over at Sam. “Well, son, Cozumel has a karst topography . . .”

Sam interrupted. “Dad, English please.”

“Right, right, right. Sorry,” Dad said quickly. “Well, Cozumel sits right in the middle of the second largest reef in the world, and the island is made up of a lot of soft stone, mostly limestone, which is made by little animals called coral. The soft limestone dissolves over time and leaves a bunch of holes and tunnels underneath the whole island.”

“Wow, that’s neat,” said Sam.

“Yeah, there are miles and miles of underwater tunnels and passages under Cozumel that are being discovered and documented.” Dad’s eyes widened as he continued, “I’m part of the team that is going to be exploring some of those newfound tunnels. You know, son, I’m never bored by all the cool things God has created on this earth.”

“Wow, that’s pretty cool, Dad. I’d love to go with you someday on one of your expeditions.”

Just then the pilot came on over the loudspeaker. “Folks, we’re in our final approach to Cozumel. We should be landing in about 10 minutes. The weather is looking fantastic. It’s currently sunny and 82 degrees in Cozumel.”

Sam leaned over to Gina and said excitedly, “Nice! Sunny and 82 degrees! I can’t wait!”

“Me too!” exclaimed Gina as she looked out the window.

Mom chimed in, “I’m just glad I bought this big wide-brimmed hat yesterday!”

Gina turned from the window. “Hey, I think I can see Cozumel down below us!” she reported to the family.

Sam did some quick math in his head. “No, I don’t think that’s Cozumel yet. At 10 miles per minute, we’re still a hundred miles away.” 

Finally their plane landed. An hour later they were driving south along the western coast of Cozumel toward their hotel. They were in a rented van filled with suitcases and a few cases of equipment Dad had brought along.

“Hey, Dad,” asked Gina, “what’s in this case?”

“Let’s see,” replied Dad. “The yellow case holds the underwater filming equipment. And the green duffle bag your feet are on has my wetsuit and your snorkeling gear.”

“That’s what I want to do tomorrow morning--snorkeling,” piped in Sam. “This brochure I got at the airport says there are some cool snorkeling spots on the western coast of the island. You want to go, Gina?”

“Mom, can we go snorkeling tomorrow morning?” asked Sam.

“Sure, Sam,” replied Mom. “Not too early, though. I’d like everyone to get a good night’s sleep first. I’m glad you asked--I guess you haven’t forgotten what happened last time when you guys went out alone.”

“Don’t worry, Mom,” said Gina. “We’ll wait for you.”

When they reached the hotel, Sam grabbed his book and lay down on the bed. “I need to look through this book to see if I can recognize some of the fish and coral tomorrow.”

“Wow, this is wild,” said Sam. “Listen to this, Gina--it’s the same thing Dad told me. It says here that coral is an animal. It has a mouth and a stomach and everything! Incredible. For the longest time I thought it was a plant; then I also thought it was a rock; but it ends up being an animal!”

“How could that be? It’s as hard as a rock!” replied Gina curiously.

Still looking into his book, Sam replied, “When coral dies, the skeleton turns into limestone. That’s bizarre.” Sam looked over at Gina. “Limestone is the rock that makes up a coral reef. The reef is made up of millions and millions of coral that died. New coral then continues to grow right on top of them.”

Gina sat on the edge of her bed and added, “All I know is what Mom and Dad say all the time, ‘Don’t touch anything!’”

After breakfast the next morning, Dad left to start his explorations. Since their hotel was right on the beach, Sam and Gina got their gear together and prepared to go down to the waterfront. “Hurry up, Mom!” said Sam eagerly.

“I’m ready, I’m ready,” replied Mom, smiling. “I can’t forget this,” she added, and put a very wide-brimmed hat on her head.

Sam, Gina, and Mom stepped out onto the back terrace of the hotel and into the bright sunshine. Mom glanced over at Sam. “Did you pack the sunblock cream?”

“Yup, got it right here in the bag.”

“Good--make sure you guys put on plenty today!” said Mom. She found an available chair and umbrella and settled in while Sam and Gina applied the sunblock and pulled out their snorkeling gear.

Fortunately, the reef came right to the back edge of the hotel property, so Mom could sit and watch them from only a few feet away. Mom called out as they started walking away, “Kids!”

Sam turned back and said, “Don’t worry, Mom, we’ll stay close so you can see us.” Mom smiled and didn’t say anything else.

They carefully entered the warm waters, being sure to avoid touching any of the coral. They put their fins on and cleaned their masks.

Gina looked over at Sam and grinned. “Boy, this is more fun than sitting in class!”

Sam chuckled. “You said it!” He glanced down and could already see a handful of fish swimming around his legs.

Sam grabbed the snorkel and said, “Ready, Gina? Let’s go!”

They put the snorkels into their mouths and submerged into the colorful, vibrant world of a coral reef, teeming with curious fish. It was another marvelous display of God’s amazing creativity, and they were excited to see it firsthand.

THE END