It’s about a week into the homestay. Maria and I have planned a wonderful outing for all the kids, Italians and Americans, on the Mediterranean sea. The area is gourgeous and we’ve hired a boat that will take us around some of the islands right off the coast. It’s gonna be amazing.
The boat is late (we’re in Italy after all), but finally it comes. The captain is loud, obnoxious and hilarious, all in one. He pokes fun of the fact that the Americans cannot understand him, but takes us away to our first stop. We arrive at a beach, he lets us off and tells us he’ll return in an hour and a half. Where he goes, I haven’t the faintest idea. But, we make for this beautiful natural arch in the area called Arcomagno di San Nicolo Arcella. It’s beautiful (see below):
View of Archmagno di San Nicola Arcello
It was in this beautiful spot that we swam for an hour and enjoyed the (cold) water. There was a large cave accessible from a tiny hole from the ocean that we swam into. I, along with Lowell and Sam, helped Kelly into the cave since she had never learned how to swim previously. Back on shore, Bajia and Travis (who didn’t like to swim) stayed behind. Once we returned (swimming the 1/4 mile back), I snuck up behind Travis and tried to dunk him into the water. My attempt failed, miserably.
Back on the boat, we waited anxiously for the “abundant” lunch promised to us on the boat. Instead, we were offered crackers and other little snacks. Hardly abundant. The kids were bummed out by this development. The boat captain played obnoxiously loud music and tried to coax the kids to dance. In the end, Georgia and Caitlen took the bait. It was fun.
Finally, we arrived at the blue grotto (“grotta azzurra”). I was one of the first people who jumped off the back of the boat into the warm water below. The cyrstal clear water allowed us a beautiful view of the all the fish in the water. The captain of the boat tossed crackers into the water and all the fish swam around us.
La Grotta Azzurra (sorry it's blurry)
It was really cool. We rode the boat back after swimming and finished our lovely trip out to the islands by Cosenza!
By the way, we were on a boat.
Not Intent on Arriving 
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