As you may remember me saying in the last post about this vacation we ended up missing 3 of the 4 ports our ship was suppose to go to. However that one port we did make was the first of the trip. The Grand Cayman. For being a Caribbean Island the Cayman Islands didn't look the part. There were literally no hills here. Its all flat. But it seemed to be a very popular location as in addition to our ship there were I believe 5 other ships also in port.
Because of shallow waters this is a tendor port meaning the ships park out in the deeper waters and they have smaller boats called Tenders come out to pick you up then drive you into shore. It wasn't bad in the Grand Cayman as we have been to some ports where the Tender ride is over 15 minutes long. Here it was at most 5 minutes.
Our plan for the day was to go a location called Sting Ray City. At this natural sand bar you can go out and basically swim with, feed, and even hold Sting Rays. And yes these are Sting Rays in there Natural habitat. They havn't been trained and they still have there stingers. You really have nothing to worry about though as this place has been a tourist destination for over 50 years and the Sting Rays are accustomed to the crowds of people and are virturally harmless.
The guide that we booked our excursion to Sting Ray city with was Stingraysailings.com. These guys were excellent. In addition to there excellent reviews we loved how that only too a max of about 25 people on the excursion. We became very thankful for that when we got out to the Sand Bar and saw small boats that were packed with people like a can of sardines. With the much smaller group we got more time with the stingrays then those other groups did. Stingraysailings was little more expensive then similar tours however for the smaller group size it was well worth the extra money. They also didn't use as normal boat. Instead you went out on a Catamaran but I will talk about why that was much funner later.
So how was swimming with the Sting Rays? Well it was very interesting to say the least. The boat ride out to the sandbar takes nearly 40 minutes. Once we got there they told us some basic info about interacting with the Sting Rays before we got in the water. After they were able round up a Sting Ray we were allowed to get in the Water. This was kind of a scary thing to do. You could see the sting rays swimming all over the place. And with the passing of the Crocodile Hunter from a Sting Ray sting it made it ever scarier. But everyone in our group eventually jumped in. Yes there were people in our group though that would not get in the water.
Once in we gathered around one of our guides as he showed us first hand how to handle the Sting Ray. It was neat being so close to such an animal. Then it was out turns if we wanted to hold one. The brought some food out and before we knew it there were sting rays all around us. You could feel them as they swam past and thru your legs. Very frightning to feel these animals swim past and rub up against you at first but you quickly got use to it.
Kyle was actually able to catch and hold a stingray on his own without the help of the guides. Eventually it was our turn to try and although it was again scary and kind of hard at first both Kiera and I eventually held the stingray on our own. After us Valisa also held the stingray and even kissed it (You get 7 years of good luck when you kiss a stingray they say).
Kyle was actually able to catch and hold a stingray on his own without the help of the guides. Eventually it was our turn to try and although it was again scary and kind of hard at first both Kiera and I eventually held the stingray on our own. After us Valisa also held the stingray and even kissed it (You get 7 years of good luck when you kiss a stingray they say).
Kyle was actually able to catch and hold a stingray on his own without the help of the guides. Eventually it was our turn to try and although it was again scary and kind of hard at first both Kiera and I eventually held the stingray on our own. After us Valisa also held the stingray and even kissed it (You get 7 years of good luck when you kiss a stingray they say).
As the final people in the group had there turn with the stingray we continued to swim around the sand bar and watch the Sting Rays swim past. Kyle even came across a way cool shell that was barried in the sand. Not too much longer it was time to all load back up on the boat and head to the next portion of our excursion.
The next portion of the Excursion would be Snorkeling at a nearby Coral Reef. If you recall the year prior we did some snorkeling in the St. Thomas just off the beach. The Snorkeling in the Grand Cayman was much better though as we were dropped off directly above a reef. This was a new and unique experiance for us. It was really cool and pretty to see the coral sea life. I would have wished we had seen more fish though.
After around 30 minutes of Snorkeling it was once again time to climb back on the boat. This time though we would be making our way back to shore. I can honestly say that this trip back to the shore was likely the most relaxing time of the entire vacation as at this point we had not idea that we wouldn't be making it to any of our other ports.
The trip back to shore though would take nearly double the amount of time as heading out. But thats a good thing. The time mixed with the relaxation is what made the fact that we were on a Catamaran so great. Because a Catamaran also has sails. So when we left the reef they set up the sails and we slowly sailed back to shore instead of running the motors. Our guides also had an assortment of local fresh fruit and drinks for us. If you chose to you could also purchase a disc of pictures that the tour guides took while snorkeling and swimmming with the stingrays.
As I mentioned earlier the Cayman Islands are very flat. Theres no hills to them whatsoever. And this became even more apparent as we approched the island as you could see all of the Cruise Ships on the other side of the Island Literally towering over the island itself. Before long we were back on shore and headed back to the main part of the city to be dropped off. Our guide mentioned how lucky we were as the wind had kicked up causing some choppy water. He mentioned that had the water been like that when we came in then they wouldn't have sent the Tenders out to the cruise ship.
We had such an incredible time on this excursion and I can't recommend Stingraysailings.com enough. These guys were awesome. Very knowlageable and willing to bend over backwards to help you out. They gave us a short tour of the island, taught us how to interact with stingrays, took us snorkeling, and gave us a wonderful relaxing sail ride back. As I said they do cost slightly more then other, similar tours. However due to there smaller group size and a big interest in taking care of you personally I thought they were well worth it.
With our excursion over and time to kill before we needed to start heading back to the ship we decided to look around the shops. The shops here are pretty much the same as you will find in any Caribbean port. Same generic stuff with a different island name on them. What is different about the Cayman Islands though is the amount of Banks that are here. I don't really know the specifics but I know there is alot of Dirty Money that passes thru here.
As we browsed the shops we stopped at Margaritaville as Valisa wanted to say she got a Margarita (Virgin) there. Thats the first i've been in one and its quite the loud place lol. They had a few games going on that basically made drunks look even more stupid. They even had a swimming pool and slide. We next went to the Hard Rock Cafe so Kyle could get a shirt there and then we decided to go get in the Tender line to head back to the ship.
The line to get back on the ship seemed like it took FOREVER. It was so long. And I've been around drunks quite a bit before but I had never seem them as bad as they were here. I don't know if people just parked themselves at Margaritaville and drank all day long but there were people who couldn't even stand on there own. I saw one guy puke all over the bathroom and then pass out in it. I mean really is drinking that worth it to have that happen. We were soon on our Tender and started heading back to the ship. But that wasn't before a close call with another Tender as when we were turning around a huge wave came by almost slamming our boat into another. That was probably one of the most thrilling moments of the trip and we had been to theme parks prior lol.
Overall we had a great time in the Cayman Islands and swimming with the Stingrays is a once in a lifetime type experiance. If you ever find yourself in the Cayman Islands then that should be the top of your to do list. It really was incredible. I don't think we will be going back there again any time soon but if we did its an experiance I would not hesitate doing again. The Grand Cayman was a lot of fun and we were happy to go there.
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