Day 3- Grand cayman snorkeling and Stingray City- Part 2

We used Moby Dick Tours for our excellent excursion.

We did the snorkel stop and stingray city.

We took a 25 minute boat ride out to the lagoon. Grand cayman has the worlds largest salt water lagoon. It was amazing. You could see exactly where the lagoon was. It was this beautiful turquoise water and you could see the coral. Then surrounding it you could see the deep cobalt blue of the sea where it dropped off to 6000 feet. The water was so warm, yet refreshing. Our guides were FANTASTIC. They taught us all about stingrays, how to feed them etc.

We went snorkeling first. Unfortunately not many of those pictures turned out very well. Darn underwater cameras.

But the snorkeling was great. Lots of beautiful coral and interesting fish. one of the best snorkeling stops I have ever done.

Then we motored over the the sandbar where the stingrays were. They were HUGE!

A long time ago fishermen used to come out to that area to clean their fish and drop the chum overboard. The stingrays started equating boat motors with free food. Eventually the fishermen realized the stingrays were very sweet and docile. so now you can get in the water with them. They are like big puppy dogs. They are SO SWEET! And so very smart. Most other tours do not allow you to feed them yourself. Only the guide does and then they take your picture and sell it to you. With Moby Dick we all got to feed the stingrays and they took our pictures with our own cameras etc. The guides each had their own "babies". These stingrays would go to the specific guides. Our one guides baby was "sandy". Sandy was all the way on the other side of the sandbar when we got there. She recognized his voice or something and came flying over and JUMPED into him. Another guide had esther. Another guides baby was Notchy.

Here is charles with a live Conch he found. (yes he put it back where he found it)

We got to feed the stingrays. It is certainly an interesting experience.You hold the food in your fist, with your thumb tucked firmly in. They come over your hand and suck the food right out of your hand. They have a 10 horsepower suction and if you are not careful will leave you with a hickey that can last MONTHS. Notchey gave charles a little hickey on his hand when he tried to feed her with too small a piece of chum.

we had a great experience on Grand Cayman. And here we are back on the ship, tired and sunbleached and REALLY sunburnt. Did you know that in The caribbean SPF 30 is like wearing no sunscreen at all?? Yeah. Charles got REALLY sunburnt and I got pretty red around the straps on my bathing suit.

Vacation nazi strikes again

Poor Charles. For 3 weeks straight, I have relentlessly hounded him. I have bugged him with; "what excursion do you want to take?" "do you want sting ray city with 2 stops or 3?" "Should we pay an extra 20$ so it includes lunch?" "Should we bring our own snorkel gear or use the free stuff?" "So you want the beach or do you want to snorkel?" "Can you please make up your mind?" "You tell me to plan it then when I do you get huffy and call me the vacation nazi. I dont think I appreciate your tone" "You want to go by yourself? I can arrange that!" "Fine, go slam the door and sulk crybaby," "Dont think you are getting any vacation sex!!" What do you mean you wont want any?!" "FINE!"

(mumble grumble curse curse curse)

So with little input other than an occasional wishy washy "sounds good" or "what ever you want baby", this is what I have planned, reserved, booked and made deposits on. Having cruised in the past I learned my lesson about paying the high price of buying the cruise ship excursions. You pay more and are packed in with a ton of other passengers. So I found some local reputable companies that were highly rated on cruise critic and trip advisor. I am paying half the price I would than if I booked through Carnival.

In cozumel Charles and I are taking a glass bottom boat tour two of the best reefs in Cozumel. It is a smaller boat and only takes 20 people maximum. It includes snorkeling and refreshments.

In Grand Cayman we are taking a boat tour to Stingray City. You go to a special bay where the docile rays come and get fed. You can swim, play, pet and hug on them. They love people, are very gentle and love to show off. Wethen go to a nearby barrier reef for snorkeling. At the end we stop off at 7 mile beach for some final play time.
In Roatan(honduras) we are taking a zipline excursion through the jungle!! I am REALLY excited about this. We will be at a place that has the jungle canopy ziplines, a monkey habitat and exotic birds etc. Then we head over to the beach for lunch and fun.

And finally, the one I am REALLY the most excited about. Lamanai Mayan Ruins in Belize.

We take a busride through the countryside to get to the river and take a boat ride through the jungle to Lamanai. Then we get 2 hours at the ruins AND we get to climb around on them and everything. We end it with a traditional belizean lunch of chicken, rice and beans.

I am just super excited. I am eagerly awaiting the arrival of my passport. I am so giddy I am willing to overlook the HORRID "well you are stuck with it for 10 years" photo they slapped in it.

UGH. But the stamps and memories will be totally worth the border guards laughing at me and my scared deer in headlights expression in my passport book.

So now that everything is planned, what is a vacation Nazi to do???

PLAN VEGAS in 2011!!! watch out girls, im on a roll!!