Grand Cayman

Our fourth and final port was the Grand Caymans(it also happened to be Valentine's Day). Jason and I went there in 2006 and loved it. Grand Caymans is a beautiful island. Unlike a lot of these islands where the beach and resort areas are nice and the rest of the island dirt poor and barely livable, the Cayman people are well taken care off. The government puts the money from tourism right back into the economy. If you live there you have to work; they have a zero unemployment. The entire island is clean and colorful and the people are friendly. The houses are painted in turquoise, purple, pink, yellows and other fun and tropical colors.  Our ship had to be rerouted to a back up port because the water was too rough at the Georgetown port. A lot of people's excursions were cancelled but we were lucky and ours was not affected. The sky started out clear and beautiful. 

We took a shuttle from the port to Dolphin cove. Our excursion was two part; first Stingray City, then swimming with dolphins at Dolphin Cove. It started to rain on the ride over but stopped when we got there. We got on a boat to go to Stingray City and we were headed into dark clouds and there was even a water spout (a water tornado). Can you see it in the picture? 

It sprinkled a little bit, but cleared off again to make room for lots of sun. Last time we were in the Caymans we did a dive at Stingray City. This time we were right up on the sandbar so even though we were in the middle of the ocean, we standing about waist deep. 

Our guides picked up the sting rays for us so we could feel them, they feel very soft, almost like velvet. They were swimming all around us though too so you had to be careful where you stepped. 

We could feed them too if we wanted. Jason was all about it. 

After petting, holding and feeding the sting rays we took the boat back to Dolphin cove. 

They had other animals there as well.

We were divided into four groups and given a guide and a Dolphin. Our Dolphin was Lucie.

 We put on vests and our guide showed us the different signals and what we would get to do and then we got into the water. The cove is on the ocean and the water is 40 feet deep! First we lined up and put out our arms. That was the signal to Lucie to swim under our hands so we could pet her. 

Then she came back around and swam upside down so we could feel her belly. 

Next was the belly ride. We each took turns putting our arms out and Lucie would swim up underneath us so we could grab her fins and we rode on her belly. 

When you put your hands on your vest, Lucie would give you a kiss. 

Jason's turn.

After everyone got a turn, the couples or families each got to spend some one on one time with Lucie. 

Then we lined up on two sides and Lucie did tricks for us. When we held up our hands and shook them side to side, she danced. 

Then she and the other dolphins did some jumps for us. 

This was an amazing experience. The Grand Cayman is still still my favorite Caribbean island, although I have many more to visit. We had so much fun on our cruise and can't wait to plan out next one:)

Mahogany Bay, Roatan

Our third port was Roatan, which is part of Honduras. The port was gorgeous with lots of walking paths, vegetation, shopping, and relaxation areas. 

They even had a ride like a ski lift that took you over the port and a little of the ocean.

Our excursion for this port was an 11 1/2 acre private island called Maya Key. We took a boat from the port to get there. Dark clouds had been gathering since the early morning and when we arrived at the island it started to sprinkle. The tour guides said the weather called for rain and wind all day. We decided to snorkel first in case we couldn't later. When we finished snorkeling though the rain had stopped and shortly after all the clouds disappeared and it was a sunny and gorgeous day. The beach had lots of sunbathing chairs and a picnic area. 

There were lots of flowers and trees. Everything was so beautiful. 

The island had a pier with access to the snorkeling. 

Our first snorkeling trip. It was cloudy so the pictures turned out a little dark, but we had lots of fun. 

After snorkeling, we went on a small group tour around the island. Aside from the beach and snorkeling, the island has a pool, a bar, shopping, a Maya interpretation center, a Honduran Art Exhibit center, life size replicas of the Copan ruins and an animal sanctuary. 

The replicas were really cool. Real ruins are amazing, but it is also nice to see what things looked like originally. 

They had salt water crocodiles, exotic birds, a jaguar, monkeys and iguanas. 

After the tour the sun was calling my name. We laid out on the beach chairs and just relaxed for a while and then ate a lunch buffet by the pool. We decided to snorkel again with the sun out; it makes everything much more alive and vivid. 

The view of the island from the pier. 

After snorkeling we went to the pool to swim and dry off before the boat took us back to port. This iguana was roaming around the pool area. The pool was really nice, I'm not sure why I didn't get a picture of it. 

I loved this excursion, it was fun, adventurous, educational and relaxing. When we got back to port we did a little shopping and then went back to the ship. As we were leaving port we saw quite a few of these rusty abandoned ships. 

I would love to go back to Honduras someday.