Last spring break my family and I went to  Naples, Florida. We were all having a great time up until the last day. After a delicious poolside breakfast, we drove to Fort Myers beach to go parasailing. It was beautiful out on the beach that day. We were surrounded by palm trees filled with coconuts. They hung from the trees like a needle, dangling by a single thread. And the water was crystal clear. Like a diamond sparkling on the horizon. The parasailing part was awesome...but it was the part that happened after the fun that was so bad.

Once we had finished parasailing, we decided to stay out on the beach for a while. We were playing in the peach-colored sand and my brother and I decided to go throw the ball in the shallow water. We tried to get passed all of the painful, broken shells and finally I thought I had gotten to a soft, comfortable spot. I was wrong. I took one more step and…”OUCH!” I felt something sharp stick into the side of my foot. At first, I thought that it was a sea urchin because it did not feel like the shells. It felt like a knife jabbed into my foot. I limped up to the shore in tears. “Come quick!” I screamed. I told my parents what had happened. They carried me up to a stand on the beach to see if anyone knew what it was or if they had any first aid. We told the man at the stand what had happened and he said, “It was a Stingray!” Apparently, I had accidently stepped on it (and startled it) so it wrapped its tail around my ankle and stuck its barb into the side of my foot.

After that he told me that I had to keep my foot in a bucket of lukewarm water for 30 minutes to prevent its venom from traveling to the warmest part of my body-my heart.

After we left the beach we went out to eat and my dad had to carry me everywhere until the pain stopped. After a good 3 hours of excruciating aches and pains, my foot felt better. Now my foot feels like nothing ever happened, but I have a scar to remind me that it did. Looking at my scar makes me wonder. What would have happened if I had not gone into the water that day.