Fairlight Beach

• Sara Gashi, Grade 6
• Short Story
• 2008

As I entered the warm tranquil water I thought about the pearly yellow sand crunching beneath my cool feet. I waded deeper until the clear, transparent water reached my waist. Then I adjusted my goggles, which were blue, on my head.
Suddenly I pushed off the crunchy sand and glided through the glistening water. As soon as my lungs felt like they were about to burst, my head broke the surface of the water and out popped my head.
I took a deep refreshing breath and put my snorkel in my mouth. I looked around. That was when I saw my mum. I swam to her and surprised her by brushing past her leg gently as she was snorkelling.
I swam to her side and together we enjoyed the spectacular life and scenery of the sea.
My mum suddenly shook me and pointed to a fish. It was a blue groper. I felt like going down to it and swimming alongside this wonderful fish all day long, but I knew that there were many other things to see and encounter.
Suddenly my mum signalled to me that there was a beautiful fish swimming by. I looked around frantically, but couldn’t spot it. At that very moment my eyes started to sting like a bluebottle stinging you with its delicate dark-blue tentacles.
Somehow some sea water had seeped into my goggles so I couldn’t see clearly. My mum surfaced and told me what I had just missed, an elegant garnet coloured fish. I felt frustrated but the soothing motion of the sea calmed my mind. Oh well, always another fish to see.
I decided that i would stop snorkelling for a while and make a sand castle on the shore of the beach. With that thought still in my head a fragile picture formed in my mind. It was a picture of a delicate castle with tall pirouetting towers and thin windows shaped as beautiful Gods and Goddesess. The castle looked like it was made in heaven. That thought inspired me and I quickly set off to work on my sand castle.
I spent the rest of the day basking in the sun, making my sand castle and snorkelling. I made sure I had a lot of sunscreen on. It was all so wonderful that I was sad when I had to leave. It was a great experience!