Grand Cayman was our third port of call, and we had signed up for a shore excursion that combined playing with sting rays and snorkeling above coral.

Here we are at Grand Cayman Island!

This picture was actually taken at the end of the day (you can already see how sunburnt we eventually became), but since it says "Welcome", it belongs here.

This was one of the ports for which we had to "tender" (don't you love verbed nouns?). The water next to the docks isn't deep enough for a boat the size of the Paradise, so instead small groups of people get loaded onto little tender boats and shipped off to the docks.

	That's the Paradise towering to the right.		A view from the tender towards the shore.
	Nicole and Mom in the tender.		Are these life jackets a joke or what?

At the dock, we debarked and were led to a tour bus. The driver loaded us up and then took off inland (or rather, to the other side of the island where the bay is)... driving on the left-hand side of the road. Grand Cayman was a British colony, too, but was still under the influence after the automobile had been invented. The worst bit was that many of the cars driven in Grand Cayman were manufactured in the U.S., so the drivers are still on the left side of the vehicle.

Looking out the window. To the right.

Argh! Do these arrows disturb you?

Still, we made it to our 45-foot snorkel boat without any mishaps. The boat had two stories, so we climbed up to the top to get the best view. The crew distributed snorkel vests (thinner than life vests, and inflatable rather than foam; you can adjust your buoyancy using the nozzle). We also received snorkel masks and flippers.

Atop the boat.

Mom and Nicole demo the snorkel gear.

Then we were off! During the 30-minute trip out into the bay, a crew member held up a tiny stuffed animal that turned out to be a fuzzy sting ray. He demonstrated how to properly pet them, feed them, and avoid stepping on their (apparently barbed) tails.

The boat's wake.

Mom enjoying the ride.

Mom again :)

The boat took us out to this sand bar where sting rays converge daily for the free food offered by squealing tourists (if you're ever standing in four feet of choppy water, dangling a wet piece of squid, and a ray whose wings are three feet across charges you, you'd squeal too).

I think the bumpy stuff is coral.

Someone else's (smaller) boat.

When we arrived, the place was already packed with multiple boatloads of people. I climbed down to the bottom floor of the boat, stuck my feet in the flippers, and then hesitated, clinging to the rungs of the step ladder, before climbing down into the sea water. I'd never snorkeled before, and this was only a few feet of water, but I soon found that having the snorkel mask on helped a lot, as the waves were very choppy (there was a lot of wind). The only problem is that you cannot really speak while the snorkel tube is in your mouth, so you end up swimming around making grunting noises at the tourists bumping into you and kicking you with their flippers.

We took lots of pictures with our underwater cameras (these were some of the most fun pictures to take!), but I don't have them in digital form. At any rate, I survived the snorkeling and got to hold a slippery grey sting ray in my arms! We climbed back in the boat and headed to our second stop, a small coral reef called the "Coral Garden". Here, the water was deeper (10-15 feet). Some people dove off the top of the boat (!), but I used the steps to again climb down into the water (the idea of water going into the snorkel tube was not a pleasant one, and I'd already choked my way through a few mouthfuls). We swam around looking at the coral and an occasional fish, fighting the current to stay within range of the boat. Then it was back on the boat to head for shore.

Dazzling sun halo.

Kiri clinging to her hat! (Note the marks from the snorkel mask)

Nicole, also with hat. (She escapes snorkel marks)

We were exhausted on our return (the whole excursion took several hours) and stopped into the Hard Rock Cafe for a late lunch. The harbor area was very touristy, complete with Burger King (though no McDonald's, that I could see). Here we see Mom with her video camera, in the dock area, and some shots looking out at our cruise ship and another ship in the harbor. Then we headed back to our cabin, and Mom and Nicole took a nap.

	Mom, the videographer.		Aboard the tender for the ride back, I took a shot of my shadow.
	The Paradise as seen from shore.		Yikes, a pirate ship!
	All tuckered out!		Our cabin steward left us a towel elephant that day.

That night, the show was "Shout" -- a musical mosaic of different routines set in different time periods. Elaborate costumes, talented dancers, minimal audience appreciation. Not even for the amazing theater arts couple (they took my breath away). More and more, I got the feeling of sitting in the middle of a dense lump of over-stimulated, over-fed amoebas. I think the all-you-can-eat, whenever-you-want, do-nothing kind of vacation is highly overrated.