Cruise Day 7

I know, you're surprised, two in one night...but I really need to catch up before the next trip...

Our last port was in Grand Cayman.  We had an excursion lined up with a tour company outside of the cruise, but it was a little bit later in the day so we had a bit of time.  We still got up and out pretty early so we would have plenty of time to peruse the local shops.  I liked Grand Cayman the best for just wandering, probably because we had the most time to wander.  I had been looking for a small silver charm the whole trip and I finally found one in a shop, it's a little sting ray.

The view from the tender.

There were lots of pirates here!
(We took these pictures for you, N)

Outside the gated area

When our excursion time came, we met up with the group going including the couple we ate dinner with the first night on the ship.  We were "bussed" to a catamaran that took us out in the middle of "nowhere" so that we could play with the stingrays at Stingray City.  This was on a sandbar so we were just chilling in the middle of the ocean and walking around.

This is where we had to switch to the waterproof camera that wasn't all that amazing once the photos were developed (you saw similar things with the Belize pictures).

We each had the opportunity to hold a stingray and kiss it as kissing a stingray brings seven years of good luck.  Colette kissed two, so that makes fourteen years for her.  As you can see, the tour company took pictures on their camera so that we could have the opportunity to buy them from them.  We were glad our dinner buddies were there and we just traded cameras back and forth.

Getting a back massage from the stingray...they're really squishy. 

After Stingray City, we got back on the boat and went to two other locations along the Barrier Reef to do some snorkeling.  This was my first time and I was a little hesitant at first, but I had a lot of fun.  We saw a lot of coral and quite a few fish.  It was very clear and very salty.

On the way back to Grand Cayman, the wind was in our favor so they put the sail up and we just enjoyed the ride back to shore.

Have I ever mentioned how good I am at the self picture taking?

Once back on the ship, we ate a snack, showered, and then just read as we were both really tired from our swim.  We went to a comedy show that night.  Dinner was pretty good, I had the lasagna...it was a huge piece, I was the only one to completely finish it.  There was a show that night, a guy came and sang a lot of Mo-town music.

The mystery of the evening came with the towel critter.  We have no clue what this is supposed to be.  Any idea?  It has ears (maybe horns) and a beak.  I was thinking maybe an owl, but that might be pushing the creative realms here.