Grand Cayman Islands: Day 4

I am loving that we stop at a different port each day, however when you must just a tender boat it is no fun at all.  Trust me it stinks trying to get off the boat.  Since there isn't a dock at the port the boat 'parks' off the coast and we must take a smaller boat to the land.  Have I mentioned how much it stinks?  Since we were not suppose to be able to get off until after 11:00am we had a late breakfast while my parents went and stood in line to get tender tickets . . . yes you must get in a line to get a ticket to get in another line to get off.  People try to play the system and well it just doesn't work.  As you can see the dock (lower right hand corner) isn't that far from the ship but the tender boat takes forever to load and unload . . .

We were group 6 (out of 21) for the tender boats.  We waited near the place to get off and jumped into line as soon as our number was called.  It was a long, painful wait I tell you.  It took at least an hour from the time group 1 went until group 6 . . . I can not imagine being group 21.  The ray of sunshine was that I have never been to the Cayman Islands, and as the photo shows there was a huge dark cloud overhead.  I was a little concerned because for the first time ever, I booked a private excursion today . . . one not with the cruise ship.  I normally book with the cruise line for the security of getting back on time and not missing the boat but this time went on my own.  So we get off and don't see the signs for our meeting point of the prearranged taxi so I ask the lady at the visitor's center.  She was being nosey and wanted to know what we were doing and what company . . . all I needed was her to answer if we go right or left . . . she wanted to call and she did . . . I was getting upset and we had 5 minutes to meet our driver.  Final she told me to go right and that it was not a 4-5 minute walk like the email said but more like 7-8 minutes . . . she so got an eye roll for that bit of information because I knew she read the email.  So off we went . . . I am sure by this point my parents are going tried of my speed walking, but we found our driver.  She was so kind and took us to the marina to meet our boat driver, Nick.  We had the next 3 hours with Nick to take us where we wanted to . . . just the 5 of us and no big groups of other tourist.  It was a delight except for the fact that there was a lingering black cloud above us still and we were planning to be in the water . . . oh and lightning in the distance . . .

. . . the water was fabulous and could not wait to get in and see what was below.  Our first stop was Stingray City.  I had told Colin about this, and he was thrilled until we got into the water.  It was like a cat thrown in the ocean . . . he was grabbing me and his feet hardly touched the bottom.  This photo cracked me up . . .

I was concerned that I would be freaking out but was fine.  Nick was really good about giving us information and letting the stingrays 'massage' our back . . .

I will admit I was a tad not so sure . . .

Colin tried to enjoy it at first but just wasn't so sure.

I enjoyed just watching them swim around and each time they heard another boat arrive; they took off!

The odd thing was we were in the middle of the ocean and it was only 3-4 feet deep.  The stingrays were cool and huge  . . .

Colin finally warmed up and touched a stingray and let it 'massage' his back . . .

. . . and fed one too.  He wasn't so sure.  After we spent an hour there we headed to another area to snorkel.  From above it didn't look so exciting, but then I jumped in . . .

. . .  and popped right back up and said, "WOW, it's so beautiful!"

Again in the middle of the ocean and the water was only about 8-10 feet deep.  Colin was all over the place and loving every minute of it . . .

. . . and then him and my dad saw a barracuda and were quickly back in the Zodiac.  We snorkeled for a bit and then I mentioned going to Starfish Beach which I had read about before the trip.  So off we went . . . and just as the name says there are a lot of starfish right off the beach.  A four armed starfish . . .

 . . . and tons of starfish all over the place.  You used to be able to pull them out of the water to take a photo but due to high number of visitors they changed the rules.  Apparently, they die if out of the water too long.  Of course there were people not following the rules, but we did!

As we headed back to the marina, Colin said he could not wait to see the stingrays again . . . seriously kid you hardly had anything to do with them; maybe next time I suppose.  We parted ways with Nick and returned to the pier area.  We looked at the shops a bit . . . Grand Cayman Islands is expensive and really not much there we needed.  Colin wanted ice cream until he saw it was $7 for one scoop; thankfully he decided that was too much and back to the boat we went for free ice cream!

Lesson learned . . . only book private excursion when you are docked; book cruise ship excursions when you must tender . . . thankfully it all worked out, but I was stressed the entire time worrying something would go wrong and we would be late.  The company we used was AWESOME and would use them again . . . really can not say enough great things about Nick and the company he worked.

Next Stop:  FALMOUTH, JAMAICA