Ships & Dip III - Tuesday

You Never Know What's Gonna Happen on the Cruise-Uh!

Grand Cayman - Tuesday, January 29

Despite being up until about 2 am, we set the alarm for 5:45, so we could all get ready for our port day in George Town, Grand Cayman. Our excursion was at 8:15 am, and we had to be in the Caribbean Lounge at the front of the ship by 7:45 to catch a tender. For the record, our cabin was aft. I was the first one up, and the first one showered. While everyone else got ready, I ate some breakfast (room service), and watched us pull in before sunrise. There were two other ships on the port side of us, The Carnival Legend (which we sailed on last year), and the Disney Magic. There were also 4 other ships in port that day, for a total of seven. I recall seeing a Celebrity ship, an Princess ship, a Norweigan and a Costa.

Since the water at Grand Cayman is shallow, we had to take tenders to the port, which I thought was a lot of fun! With seven ships, I had thought it was going to be a nightmare, but it went very smoothly! Some of the ships were using their lifeboats as tenders, but we didn't have to.

Our excursion was the Cayman Shore Snorkel (John, Clarissa, and me... Steve wandered about, and hung out on the beach), which was walking distance from the tender port. For $32 we got equipment and access to a stairwell into the water. There was also a small beach with lounge chairs on it for us to use. The beach didn't go all the way to the water, though... it was all coral. They had even carved a walkway to the water, which the stairs were attached to. All of this was within full view of all the ships in port, so we got some great pictures of that! Best of all, our ship was front and center!

Snorkeling was AMAZING. Our first snorkel experience was last year at Grand Turk. We had a great time, but we didn't see a whole lot of fish, even though we were snorkeling from a completely uninhabited island! Amazingly, the number of fish this year was outstanding, even so close to such an active port! Lots of fish, and some BIG ones, too!!! Right near the stairs was a school of Tarpin, and I swear these things were five feet long! John said, "Oh, wow, there are some big fish under there, look!" So, I don my mask and snorkel, and head under, expecting to see fish maybe 1-2 feet long. These things were SO big, I screamed, "HOLY SHIT!!!!" into my snorkel, and everyone above water heard me! LOL!

Since it was so early in the morning, some of the overnight clouds hadn't burned off yet, and it was kind of cool. I started getting tired and cold, so I got out. John went in a second time, and saw squid! The pictures arrived at Snapfish, so I got my online preview (and snagged a few), but it doesn't look like the squid pictures came out. Bummer.

After snorkeling, we went to find some lunch, after buying some Rum Cake (I recommend the Key Lime, btw). We were starving, but didn't want to go through the hassle of riding the tenders twice to go get free food on the boat. Instead, we went to a restaurant on the island called "Breezes." It was a nice place, with good food, and they gave us beads! I just wish the menu prices were in US dollars, and not Cayman dollars! The exchange rate is not in the US favor... *sigh* Our dollar is only worth 80 cents there.

After lunch, we wandered around a bit, and bought some t-shirts. The store we bought them from was playing "One Week" over the radio. Someone else said they heard "It's All Been Done" in a restaurant there... did they know we were in town?! LOL! That was the only time I heard One Week all week!

After buying our shirts, we took a tender back to the ship, and started to prepare for the evening's concerts. :) Grand Cayman reminds me a lot of Long Beach Island, NJ, where we vacation every summer. It was touristy, but we felt SAFE. I would definitely go back there again, though I'd book time with the Eden Rock Dive Center for snorkeling, which was about 50 yards down the street from where we were, and equipment rental is only $15. ;)

Disney Magic and Carnival Legend at 6 am

Green Crab!

Embedded Conch shell

Little stripey snail things.

Sea urchins!

Some weird trilobyte thing.

Me in my sexy snorkel gear with the Victory behind us.

Huge FREAKING Tarpon in the water. Like 5 feet long! DAMN!

Brain Coral

More freaky huge fish!

Fishies!

That's a weird looking fish...

More big fishies!

John and the Victory!

Suebee and the Victory!

Steve and the Victory!

Parrots in Grand Cayman

Carnival Legend

Our snorkeling place

George Town, Grand Cayman

Pirate Ship - ARR!

Tendering back to the ship

Another tender offloading passengers

Back on The Ship

Great Big Sea was doing the Sail-Away show (Concert Count: 10), and they ROCKED the place. I know they gained a lot of fans on this trip! It was a fantastic show, and I know a lot of my friends got pictures of John and I rocking out. I can't wait to see them! LOL! It was also the Captain's Party, with free drinks and wandering snacks. This was the only time that the wandering waiters did NOT annoy me. John got happily buzzed on the free drinks -- the only ones all week that didn't seem to be made from lighter fluid. LOL!

The highlight, by far, of the sail-away show was Ed. Ed was omnipresent on this trip, dropping in on just about every set for a song or two. But his appearance at the Great Big Sea show took the cake, as he appeared on stage in nothing but a blue Speedo and a cowboy hat. It's a good look for him. ;) I got one picture where Alan Doyle is CLEARLY looking directly at his crotch. Too funny!

After the sail-away show, we decided to partake of the dining room again. If the schedule had allowed for more dining room time, we would have done it. The food was really good this year, compared to last year!

After dinner, we made our way up to the Lido deck to see Carbon Leaf (Concert Count: 11). My brother went to bed, I think. Clarissa and I stayed for the whole set, but John was exhausted, so he also bailed early and went back to the cabin. As a result, he missed Sean McCann from Great Big Sea showing up to sing "Hangin' Johnny." he's pretty pissed about that, but he had nothing left, and had to get some sleep.

After Carbon Leaf, it was my intention to put the first main BNL show on in our cabin (we had wristbands to show 2, but all the BNL shows in the Caribbean Lounge were broadcast on the cabin TVs), and watch it. I was ok for the first half, as we were getting ready for the next day in Jamaica. But once I got my stuff done and got in bed to watch the rest, I was out like a light. *sigh* So, I'm not including that in my concert count.