Cruise Day 5, Grand Cayman

This was the most fun port we landed in. Key West was all about looking. Cozumel was all about buying jewelry and such. Grand Cayman, was aallllll about the fun stuffs. We got up at 5 am (arg!) to get showered, and eat breakfast. Room service is free on cruises y'all. You can get coffee, tea and danishes without getting out of your robe. Sweet! So we had room service bring our breakfast since it was so early and we were able to have a leisurely morning before having to rush off to our excursions.

Update: I suppose a link would be nice to all of the Grand Cayman photos. Here ya go. :)

7:30 am. We're dressed and ready to go because we're supposed to be in one of the lounges to meet up for our passes and stuff. We get there and it's empty. Well crap. So we head down to where they are letting people tender off. Everyone is already down there and just about everyone has made it to shore already. We're one of the last ones off. What the hell?? Seems we missed an announcement somehow. Anyway, we got off the boat and were met by pirates. Again. I am sensing a theme here. Here is a picture of the pirate and I. I don't know what he is doing to my belly. I do know it's creepy. I think they tried to hide it. *Shudder*



Moving past the creepy dude, from there we went to a herding area where they matched us up with our tours. Our driver's name was Karl Sanchez. Karl was a black man from Germany who mostly grew up in Grand Cayman. Karl spent most of our tour discussing island politics between pointing out things of interest. Karl was sweet, but Karl needs to lighten up, y'all. I don't have a clue as to where he got Sanchez. It's not German. It's not even Grand Caymanese.

Our first stop was in Hell, Grand Cayman for a quit restroom stop and the purchasing of postcards and stamps to fill out on the rest of the tour. We later went back for the sending of said cards and for picture taking opportunities. On the way from Hell to the dock where we would shove off to see the stingrays, we stopped at the Governor's house. It's not a mansion there. Seems their politicians don't get treated like royalty. We should take notice of this. Anyway, no politics allowed.

So we arrive at the dock and board our lovely boat for the nice little trip out to see the stingrays. We opted to see them from a glass bottom boat because neither mom and I are much for the whole swimming thing. Nothing would suck more than to get in the water, see a stingray, get a major leg cramp and have to get out of the water. The glass bottom boat stays tethered out in what they call Stingray City. They aren't sure why the stingrays gather there. I think it's because they know they're gonna get fed. I know I tend to stick around when I get fed.

The stingrays were amazing y'all. bigger then I imagined and so beautiful. They aren't dangerous to be around. They don't have teeth, so if they do bite looking for food, there's no cutting. Don't get me wrong. It'll still hurt. Our captain said it feels like getting your finger slammed in a door. Pass! They will however pass over you doing this little sucking action they do to scoop up food and leave a hickey on ya. Yeah, I'm gonna be able to 'splain THAT when I get home. "It meant nothing, sweetheart! He was just looking for food. I didn't even get his name!" They do have stingers on their tails, but they don't attack with then. It's a reflex action that happens if you step on their backs. No steppy, no problem.

From there we headed off to the turtle farm. The government there raises sea turtles, breeds them and every year they release 1/3 of their turtle population into the wild. They are so covetous of these creatures that they have a ceremony for the release. Grade school age girls are chosen every year to line up on 7 mile island. They have a ceremony handing the turtles out to the girls, then they all step forward as one to release them into the sea. I would love to see it one day.

At the farm they have turtles the size of dining room tables. They have hundreds of turtles there. Unfortunately, they lost a large portion of their population in the hurricanes last year, including their oldest one that was 45 years old. They have baby turtles you can see, but they keep the water so low in the tank you'd have to be 10 ft. tall to reach them. They allow you to look but their immune systems can't handle being touched yet. They really take care of these beautiful animals. I did get to hold one! It was about a year old and will be one of the ones released this year in the ceremony.

From the farm we headed back to Hell for pictures and such, then it was back to the boat. By this time it was 3:00 pm and we had all of 15 minutes to get back on the boat. No shopping this stop! We headed up to the top deck for fruit from the salad bar since we hadn't eaten since breakfast and dinner was still 3 hours away. Then we headed up to our room to get ready for dinner since it was a formal night. Dinner was at 6 but we were ready by 5 so off we headed to the Schooner Bar for Name That Tune (Broadway). We ruled, y'all. We got 2nd place cuz the ship singers were there playing too. I think that's cheating. Most of them have sung on Broadway. Cheaters! I'm not bitter. Much. Grrr. They bought us drinks though and told me I have a good voice. Liars. Hee!

Dinner that night was a spinach dip that ruled, ceasar salad, lobster tail and red potatoes, and desert was creme brulee. Yum! Here is us with the rest of our dinner table. Mom hates having her picture taken but she looks smashing in red!

After dinner we did some gambling then mom hit the sack. We were exhausted! But I had one more thing to do. They put together a Gal Buffet at midnight that was stunning. Pictures here. Go see. It's soooo worth it. The next day was Cuzumel and potential for damage to our bank accounts. Next time, how much advantage we took of that potential. Hehe.