Grand Cayman Awaits
A wake up call from the Mouse and we hustled off to breakfast gearing up for our port excursion in GC. We met up with the others going on the same excursion and waited on the tender (the wee boat that takes you from cruise ship to port- this port is to shallow for our boat to dock up close). We became the Goofy group and wore Goofy stickers to be able to identify our group members-there were about 30 people. The Goofy group exited the ship onto the tender by swiping our key to the world cards. It was a short trip on choppy waters to the shore. We were met by GC port authority and salesman- many of them happy to see us and thanking us for coming ashore- tourism is a main source of income for this island. Goofy group was led to a bus and we were taken about 2 blocks along the coast to the Atlantis Submarine tour. In a small air-conditioned building filled with island souvenirs and fishtanks we had a short wait before loading the semi submarine. This is where having a stroller is worth the hassle- we were busy unloading Sam and gathering our belongings so the end of the line is where we ended up- in turn this meant that we were the last ones down the hatch and had more room and fan exposure (it was cramped and hot quarters). The semi sub was a regular boat on top that had a basement like a submarine- benches for sitting and windows for viewing the ocean life and beautiful coral. Again a camera can't do it justice and the view thru the lens was especially distorted by the thick glass windows. We pulled away from the dock and in a matter of 3 minutes the ocean floor went from sand to coral. We saw fish right away- nothing huge or predatory- the small ones that are colorful-there were a bunch of different types. We saw 2 ship wreaks and learned some island history from Manny our tour guide. Jonathan saw a sea turtle! We missed it and that was a bummer but like I said there were a ton of fishies. Sam fell asleep and Linley lost interest after awhile but the rest of us really like it! Weirdest fact of the trip: 65% of the world's sand is made from coral and rock the other 35% is made from Parrot Fish poop!!!! No joke, these guys eat coral all day and poop out sand- up to 2 1/2 pounds a day!
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| The captain got in and fed the fish coconut bread at one point |
We took a short stroll back to our port taking note of the businesses along the street- yes, there really are 100s of banks in the Cayman, jewelers and tourist bars brought in the crowds. Coconut salesmen, tables of giant seashells, fancy tropical drink stands, hair braiding stations- the port was lined with all this and more.
We took the short tender back to the Magic and were in swimwear, eating lunch poolside by noon. It was a short swim for Annabelle and Sam followed by some R&R back in the room, as Daddy and Lu continued splashing about in the Goofy pool watching Pinocchio. After the movie even Lulu came back tired and crashed for a bit. Jonathan and I took advantage of the quiet time and had drinks on the veranda as the boat was leaving the Caymans headed west toward Costa Maya.
YoHo Pirate Night
This was pirate night- a huge event- people go ALL out for this one! Dads wear fake mustaches, Moms dress like wenches, kids with swords/eyepatches/hooks. Sam had a long day and our outing had taken a toll on the little buddy- by this point in the trip he had endured plenty of long meals and exhausted his tolerance- so we made a reservation for him at Flounder's Nursery. This is the 3 and under, hourly daycare on the ship- lots of toys, a slide, tv, music and 4 counselors to care for the 4 kids there- pretty good deal. They fed him dinner and he enjoyed some romping around while we attend our pirate dinner.
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| The Pirate men |
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| ARRRRR! |
After dinner we met Peter Pan! Tonight's show was the new Tim Burton movie, Frankenweenie in 3D. Not a movie I would go see or rent but it turned out to ok. Unlike Nemo, this movie wasn't really "enhanced" by the 3D. After the show everyone was invited to the pirate party on the top deck. It was late and all the young ones were zombie like. There was singing and dancing and pirate fun to be had until Captain Hook tired to take over our ship but Mickey came to the rescue- it was a close call. Then there was a fireworks show:)
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| Annabelle shaking it! |
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| The Captain, Tinkerbell and the Wench |
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