The Great Scuba Diving Adventure
By: Georgia Kirkpatrick

Have you ever been on an adventure with just you and your best friend? Twelve year olds Chloe and Emily are set to go for an adventure of a lifetime. All they need now is a plane ticket…
It’s nighttime and Chloe and Emily are ready to go. Their bags are packed with all the equipment they need to go scuba diving in the Great Barrier Reef in Australia. As they head out Chloe asks, “Emily, do we have the plane ticket?” “Yes,” she replied. “We have everything,” Emily reassured her. “You don’t need to worry,” Emily said. The two headed out as excited as they could possibly be.
After a two mile walk Chloe and Emily Finally approached the giant Atlanta International Airport. As they walked slowly into the huge airport all kinds of different smelling aromas filled it. As the two stood brick still looking all around Emily finally said, “We can’t just stand here looking like we have never been to an airport before. It may be the one in the U.S. but it is still an airport. Now all we need to do is find our terminal.”
As Chloe and Emily waited to board their flight a tall, thin, strange looking man sat down across from them. The three stared at each other in silence until a woman’s voice came on the intercom and said, ”All passengers going to Brisbane, Australia you may now board your plane.” Chloe and Emily were first in line, and the man behind them.
“Tickets please,” said a pretty women. “Oh,” said Emily. “Um….let me check my bag.” Emily said worriedly. “It’s not in there.” “Check again,” said Chloe quickly. “I still can’t find it.” Emily said even more worried than before. “No tickets, no trip,” said the women with a tone. “I just had them!” Emily cried. “Emily, come over here,” Chloe whispered. See that group of tourists over there?” “Yes,” Emily said confused. “Maybe,” Chloe said eagerly “we could try to blend in with them and get in the plane.”
“Here’s the plan,” said Chloe anxiously. “First, we need to get in the middle or the group so the woman won’t see us, and then we get on the plane. “Ok,” said Emily excited. “Tickets,” Chloe and Emily heard the woman say over and over again. As they got closer Chloe and Emily saw the strange man smile at them, but a friendly smile. Just one more person one more person and they were on. “Yes,” Emily whispered excited. Now all we need to do is find our seats. “4, A, 4, A” Chloe said her voice trailing off. “I hope I remembered correctly. I didn’t get a very good look at the ticket.” They found their seats and looked across to see the strange man holding two extra tickets. They glanced at one another almost as if they were reading each other’s minds. The tickets had to be theirs.
The long flight took them from Atlanta to Los Angles and on to Brisbane, Australia. After some confusion of where to find the closest train station Chloe and Emily finally made it to their next destination. As they got off the train Chloe and Emily saw the strange man getting off the train too. “He’s following us,” Emily said with her hands on her hips. “We need to lose him.” Chloe and Emily started to run but the man was right behind them. Jumping over no running signs, gliding over wet
slippery tiled floors Chloe and Emily finally lost the strange man but not for long. “He’s still following us!” cried Chloe annoyed. Chloe and Emily ran out of the building just before the strange man caught up to them. They finally lost him!
“We’re free!” exclaimed Chloe. “Now we can go scuba diving without worrying that someone is following us.” Chloe and Emily made their way to the Great Barrier Reef already seeing amazing things. “Chloe look!” exclaimed Emily. “We can use that rowboat over there to go out to the sea and scuba dive from there.” Chloe and Emily got all their equipment loaded into the small wooden rowboat and headed out.
Chloe and Emily dove off into the Great Barrier Reef very excited. “Wow!” exclaimed Emily. “This is amazing!” cried Chloe. “Look at that stingray… and that shark!” The Great Barrier Reef is so colorful.” Said Emily amazed. “It’s a lot more shallow and warmer than I thought. Look! It’s covered with corral everywhere. I can now understand why it is a series over 2,000 individual reefs and not just one big reef,” exclaimed Chloe.