I ADORED Grand Cayman. It was my most favorite stop on the cruise but mostly because I fell in love with the stingrays at Stingray City. I really didn't want to leave my ray. It was amazing to hold her and get a little kissy kissy from her ;) (They say it's 7 years of good luck if you kiss a sting ray. I think I due 49 yrs of good luck now.)
This excursion was booked through Captain Marvin's and in hind sight, we should have booked it once we got the island, and not in advance. For all of the other stops, it was good we booked in advance, but for this, you could do it once you got on the island and it would have been cheaper. We certainly weren't upset, but now we know.
Stingray city is a series of sand bars about a mile off Grand Cayman where stingrays tend to hang out. You can take a boat out to the sand bars where you can hold and feed stingrays. As you can tell the water was crystal clear so you don't have any problem seeing right where the stingrays are.
When we first got out to the sandbar, we hopped in and gathered around our tour guide. He explained how things were going to work with the stingrays. He would catch one and then we would take turns holding it. He also talked about how stingrays will brush up against you as their way of saying, hello. As he is telling us this a stingray brushed up against me. I about died!!! It's funny how someone can tell you these wild animals won't hurt you unless you are really screwing around, and yet I was totally startled.
All of us were just standing on the sandbar looking down through the water at the rays. Shane had a different idea - he got some goggles and took a better look under the water. He gave me a turn and I couldn't believe how graceful and serene these animals were. It really was amazing. Shane somehow got a ray to swim right up into his arms which was pretty incredible. The guide would stay close once he let someone hold the ray, but for some reason when it was my turn, he disappeared. I didn't mind one bit. I was in heaven. I got a bundle of kisses from my ray and kept ooing and ahhing over her. Thankfully Cody was up on the boat so he got pictures of my favorite moment on the trip. Oh how I want to go back!!! (I'm thinking Shane and I could be perfectly satisfied living in Grand Cayman...)
We went snorkeling after the rays. (Personally I would have rather stayed with the rays.) It is funny how misconstrued my perception of the ocean was. I assumed you had to be at the great barrier reef or some famous dive location in order to see much on the ocean floor. Holy smokes was I wrong! They dropped us off at what I would call an island under the water. (It was a rocky area surrounded by sand.) We were told to just hang out above that area. I figured I see a fish or two - instead I saw literally 100 different fish. There were tiny fish, black fish with blue sparkles, tan fish with red stripes, long skinny fish, fish that looked like Dori, and all sorts of indescribable life!
I got really comfortable with snorkeling. I had only been once before going on the cruise so I needed a little refresher. I love that Shane is a fish and knows all things pertaining to swimming b/c he showed me how to dive under with the snorkel and then blow out when you surface before breathing in. That was a nifty trick, so you can get much closer to some of the fish hiding in the rocks.
After our adventure, we had the bus driver drop us off at 7 mile beach to soak up some sun before getting back on the boat. The beach was gorgeous! We stayed until the last possible moment before heading back to the pier. We got coconuts from a man who kept singing, You put the lime in the coconut. He was great. Once we were back on the boat we cleaned up for our 2nd elegant night. I didn't want to bring 2 dresses, so I didn't. Kara was nice enough to curl my hair. It looked divine! I wish I could do that to myself, but my arms get way too tired.
It was an incredible day. I absolutely adored it. Grand Cayman, I'm coming back. Mark my words!
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