Christian’s largest stingray catch

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Port Day mornings are usually busy. Everyone trying to get breakfast, pack a backpack for the day and get ashore. Ports where we must use a tender (a small boat to shuttle people ashore because the port is not deep enough to accommodate the large ship) are always more hectic. Times like this are what some people hate about cruises, the hurry up and wait lines. But most people are very patient and polite, knowing this is a natural consequence of choosing to vacation with about 3000 other passengers.

So we finally made it onto Grand Cayman and found the bus that would take us to our chosen destinations today. First, we rode over to a harbor just a few minutes away to board yet another boat. Then that boat took us out to the sandbar that is home to the popular attraction of Stingray City.

Stingray City is actually a large sandbar stretching about half a mile out from the island. Here stingrays have been being hand fed for almost 50 years and have become very tame (and very large). Tourists flock here by the droves to have the unique opportunity to touch, hold, and feed giant stingrays. The stingrays don’t seem to be put off by the number of people, their numbers actually appeared to grow as more people populated the sandbar. Many years ago, we visited Grand Cayman and dove near this same sandbar with our scuba group. I don’t have fond memories of the experience, when we were fully submerged the sting rays were free to glide across our faces and heads. But standing in the 4-5 foot water of the sandbar was a little more comfortable for me. Not to say that I wasn’t at first unnerved by a 6 foot stingray rubbing against me. Their mouths are underneath their bodies and this is how they are fed, so they are constantly sliding their silly soft bellies over any part of your body they happen to find in search of food. The stingrays are docile and will allow you to hold and stroke them. The guides also gave squid to those brave souls who wanted to feed them (which didn’t include me). By the time we were ready to leave, I was actually enjoying the experience. The rays are impossibly silky, and once I accepted that they weren’t going to hurt me, I was able to relax and have fun.

After our boat returned to the dock, we boarded another bus to take us to the Cayman Turtle Farm. We entered a beautifully landscaped complex of colorful buildings that served as educational and breeding centers. A large enclosure in the center of the complex held over 300 adult turtles and served as the breeding tank. These turtles were enormous, each weighing 300- 400 pounds. The attached sand beach allows the females to lay eggs (numbering 50-150) in nests every 10 days for the 3 month breeding season. The eggs are then transferred to one of the building and kept at constant temperatures. The higher the temperature of the eggs, the more female turtles; and the lower the temperature, the more males. But next came the best part! (In my opinion at least). The tanks where the adolescent turtles were kept. We were actually allowed to hold and pet them! I love sea turtles, and we’ve seen them often on our dives. In Barbados, they are friendly and even will swim very near you. But to hold this small sea turtle was more than I had ever imagined I’d get to do.. Their strong little flippers would push against our hands while they craned their necks to look around. We reluctantly left,but we came back before we left the park, we just couldn’t get enough. Next was the lagoon where we could snorkel with some mid-sized turtles. They weren’t as friendly as their cousins in Barbados and tried to keep clear of us. After a little snorkeling, it was on to feed the big guys (and gals) in the breeding tank. Those huge turtles were fairly fighting each other for the “turtle chow” we bought to give them. And then a last visit to the adolescent tanks of course.

It was finally time to return to the ship. We didn’t have much time to do anything else, so we walked down the street and found a hot spot to check email and it was back to the ship for an extremely late lunch.

My overall impression of Grand Cayman is of the most Americanized of the Caribbean islands we’ve seen. That may be the highest praise to some, and I would’ve loved to have spent years working here if I was in banking and finance. But to me, I love the islands that have evidence a very different culture and way of life than the one I’m used to. The island is flat but beautiful, the beaches are nice and of course the water is fabulous. Once back in the boat, we talked to a few people who spent the day scuba diving, and we didn’t find any who had much praise for it. This had also been our experience here, nice diving but nothing spectacular. But to each his own, this is surely paradise for the thousands of people who have chosen to live here.

This is one of my favorite things about cruising, getting a peek at islands we never would’ve seen otherwise, and then finding one we’d like to go back and visit for longer. We have 5 more ports, 4 of which we’ve never visited, so maybe one of those will seem to be heaven on earth to us. But the visits will no doubt be exciting either way.

The next day at sea was uneventful. Unless you consider, as I do, spending hours looking at the most beautiful ocean in the world thrilling. We did get to tour the galley in the afternoon. It continues to fascinate me to see the workings of such a large operation. Mostly, a restful and peaceful day. We didn’t take nearly enough of these when we were younger, maybe we didn’t need as many. But now I find it helps us tremendously in every way. This cruise made today a throwback day and brought back the midnight gala buffet. Well we couldn’t miss it! But rich food after midnight is not always a great idea, so we mostly took advantage of the eye candy and took pictures (mostly….)