Hi TGs!

So I was reading Entertainment Writer Jess’s TG blog the other day (by the way – she’s my name twin!!) and I was so inspired by her Nickelodeon 100 Things To Do Before High Schoolchallenge to face her fears. I’m not scared of much, but one thing I am a bit frightened by are sea animals. Don’t get me wrong – I LOVE SWIMMING! But I don’t really love swimming with fish, or – eep! – sea snakes!

One time, when my family went on holidays to the Great Barrier Reef, I saw a real live sea snake swim underneath me and I FREAKED OUT! I was so scared guys! Dad said as long as I didn’t bother it, it wouldn’t bother me, but from that day on I was kinda afraid to go snorkeling and stuff like that.

Anyway. I told Mum about the challenge and how I wanted to try something with sea animals, and she said how about we go up the coast on the weekend, and I can swim with a dolphin? Her and Dad wanted to do a family weekend away and she said it was a great chance for me to face that fear!

So that’s what we did – me and Mum went on a special boat as part of a tour with some other people who also wanted to swim with dolphins, and our tour guide Joe taught us about the dolphins, and how when we got in the water we needed to make funny noises underneath to try and get their attention. He said we couldn't touch these dolphins, but at the end some dolphins like to come up closer to shore and those ones we could pat and get photos with.

When I got in the water I couldn’t even see the sand at the bottom! I had a special snorkel on, and I made all the noises Joe told us to make, little “eep” and “bleep” noises. Suddenly I had a bunch of dolphins swimming right underneath me! I could feel my heart pounding but after a bit I stopped being scared and could see how beautiful the dolphins were. It was AMAZING!

At the end I felt so confident, I even patted one of the shore dolphins, and Mum took a picture. She said she was so proud of me – I’m so glad I faced my fear! I’m gonna try snorkeling more now!

Til next time!

Jessie