The waves shoved the boat around in the dark as we tried to board the Cecilia Anne. It was late at night and getting on the big sailboat with limited lighting was difficult, but our family and our friends eventually managed to get all of our things on board. The boat had several rooms with bunks for sleeping, a kitchen, and a large, open deck area with mats, chairs, and tables for relaxing or eating. As we lay in our bunks later on, the boat rocked us to sleep as we moved back and forth in the ocean.


A delicious smell of bacon and eggs burst into our rooms early in the morning and dragged us out of bed and up onto the deck. It was early morning and the kitchen staff had prepared a huge breakfast for us as we headed out to sea. The blue sky was such a contrast to the usual gray, smoky skies of Jakarta, the capital city of Indonesia. As we sat and ate, we discussed our plans for the day, of which there were many. Over the entire four day trip, we planned to do a lot of exciting things, relax, and enjoy the time together.


It began to get late and the sun set behind Krakatoa, a volcano between the islands of Java and Sumatra. In 1883, it exploded in one of the largest volcanic eruptions in history and reportedly be heard from about 3,000 miles away. We slowly sailed up to the shores of the island Krakatoa stood on and the crew dropped the anchor. The beaches, covered with black volcanic sand, wrapped around the island, called Krakatau in Indonesian. We would have to wait until the very early morning in order to climb up the volcano as the black sand would absorb the heat from the blazing Indonesian sun and burn our feet. Only the outline of the cone-shaped volcano was visible as the sun sank behind Krakatoa, ominously looming in the distance.


We awoke at around 5:00 am to get a head start on our hike up the mountain. As we climbed, we gazed out over the early morning skyline and out over the glistening ocean. The waves were crashing on the beach and the sun was beginning to rise up into the sky. We didn’t go all the way to the top because it was such a long way up. However, our friends and us stood up on the side of the volcano and looked out toward all the beauty. The black sand contrasted with the bright green palm trees down toward the summit and really stood out. It was truly an amazing experience. Once we got back down to the bottom, it was still the morning and our next activity on the agenda: snorkeling.


The anchor was pulled up and the boat set off toward the reef where we would be snorkeling. The wind made the sails billow and blew our hair all over the place. Waves crashing off the side of the boat sent a refreshing spray of sea water up into our faces. We arrived at the site and began to put on our fins and snorkels. Some of our friends had their scuba licenses and were going diving instead. With our gear on, we lined up on the edge of the boat and hopped in the water. Our vision exploded with colors from all of the different varieties of coral, fish, and other underwater creatures. We swam over spiny sea urchins, gigantic waving sea fans, and tiny clown fish swimming in and out of anemones. We had seen some amazing and beautiful creations over our three day voyage. It was a great experience to end our amazing trip.

The last day of our trip was bittersweet. It was exciting to think back about all the awesome things we had done and experienced, but it was also sad to think that we would have be traveling back to our home in the city. As we slowly pulled up to the dock and threw ropes to crew members who were waiting for us, it hit us that the trip was over. We hopped of the boat with all of our luggage and sadly said goodbyes to our friends. Getting into our separate cars to head home, we looked back for the last time at the waves crashing against the shore and knew that we would remember this incredible trip for the rest of our lives.