Grand Cayman, First Stop

We woke up early for a rushed day in the Cayman Islands. I was looking forward to being in the Caribbean. Honestly, I couldn't believe that I would be enjoying the sunshine in December! I didn't really like any of the shore excursions that were scheduled through the cruise ship so I basically left that up to my family. My brother did some research and found a company that would pick us up at the dock to swim with stingray. Sounds exciting right? If you have been reading my blog then you might know, I have a fear of big animals. I love adventure, but mixing adventure with animals changes things and I start to get nervous. I didn't know what to expect, but I was hoping I wouldn't be scared the whole time either!

We boarded an old school bus, which took us to another part of the island. I noticed that there were still many felled trees from hurricanes, but the Cayman islands are very wealthy so the buildings looked like they were back to normal.

After a thirty minute ride we found ourselves on a tourist boat which headed out to a nearby sandbar. It was a bit overcast all morning, but in the fifteen minutes that it took to get to the sandbar the sun came out! Thank goodness! I didn't want to get in water and then be cold when I had to get out. Okay, so I should mention that swimming with the stingray also means swimming with a bunch of tourists. When we got to the sandbar there were already a dozen boats anchored with their forty plus tourists each. Honestly though, it was a big sandbar and there are hundreds of stingray so it didn't really matter.

Right before we got into the water our guides (the Italian and the Surfer) gave us a few warnings. If we wanted to feed the stingray then we should make a fist with our hand and have the squid sticking out above the thumb and pointer finger (almost like giving a thumbs up, except the squid is like your thumb and you tuck your thumb down). If you did it different then they might suck your fingers into their mouths. Apparently it would feel like getting a Hickey, because their mouths are just like big vacuums. They also suggested that we drag our feet along the sand, so we didn't step on any of the stingray. That made me a little nervous...

I jumped into the water and right away I was dragging my feet, while caustically looking around for the stingray. Of course, I was like most women and I screamed when a stingray got close to me. Those things are big, not to mention they glide through the water and would casually brush against my legs. I couldn't help but scream. I knew the only way I was going to feel comfortable around these animals would be to touch one and feed them. So I dragged my feet to the closest guide who was holding a male stingray. The males are smaller (in the stingray world, the females rule the roost). So I took a deep breath and let go of my mother's hand as I asked the Italian, "Can I hold him?" He carefully handed the stingray over. I guess I accidently picked the stingray up out of the water a little bit, because he started to squirm in my arms. Then I started to scream and let him go. Even though I only held the stingray for a about thirty seconds at least I was the first in my family to get my hands on one. It wasn't as scary as I thought it would be. The next goal was to feed a big stingray.

I dragged my way over to the squid bucket and grabbed a slippery sucker. Then I headed over to the Surfer. He was holding a very large female stingray. As he was holding her I calmly put my hand under the stingray's nose. Within seconds the squid was sucked out of my hand with amazing force. I couldn't help but laugh. I started out screaming and now I was laughing. Since I might never swim with stingray again, I decided I had to end with the ultimate finish. I kissed a stingray on the nose (for good luck)!

It was a fun activity and after a short snorkeling trip we were headed back to town. I decided to leave my family at this point and wander the back roads. Grand Cayman is known for lots of jewelry shops, which isn't my style. So instead of shopping I decided to walk beyond the shops and see what daily life was like. After walking around a bit I found a cute Catholic school. I was walking on the opposite side of the street but I stopped to watch a group of grammar school children cross the street. Like many Caribbean islands, there is a large black population. It was so cute to see the black children in their uniforms hurrying across the street with their teacher. I would have loved to observe one of their classrooms.

Then I decided to make a turn and head back to the tourist district. While walking I met a man who was working construction to repair a damaged roof from the hurricane. We didn't talk for long, but that's only because I couldn't understand his accent. He was a really sweet old man though!

Once I got back into the tourist world I bought a postcard and headed over to the dock. There was only one problem...I was faced with a huge line to get on the cruise ship. I was hungry, very hot, and not excited about waiting in line again (a major downfall to cruising) when I saw a young man enjoying a bowl of sorbet. He had a great idea. I asked him where he found the sorbet and then went off to get my own. Along the way I found some beautiful parrots so I took pictures. At the ice cream stand I decided to get mango sorbet to keep in the tropical spirit. The girls that were at the ice cream stand spoke Spanish so I decided to humor them before I left. I said, "Tengo tante hambre, que sueno con comida."

Even though it was a great day, I don't think I want to visit Grand Cayman again for a while. I think I need a lot of money to afford it, so it will be a while before I return! It would be a great place to lounge on the beach, store away secret money in a bank (the Cayman islands are like the Switzerland of the Caribbean), or shop for expense jewelry. My brother bought a bracelet that cost $500 dollars. I can't afford that on my teacher's salary. I had fun, but I would have to say it wasn't my favorite stop on the cruise. So I guess you will just have to check back for information on that later!