Day 4, Grand Cayman
This was a great day! I was really looking forward to make it to Grand Cayman under good weather. Last time we were there they cancelled our shore excursion due to bad weather. I was very excited to see that the forecast for the day was clear and sunny. I woke up feeling much better and ready to have a lot of fun. I think I tend to like port days more than sea days, unless the sea days are towards the end of the cruise. Kind of odd, I think I use the last sea days to finish all my work on most cruises.
Gorgeous picture, so mild.
Since I wanted to be in the first group of people to get off the ship and keep in mind I did not have FTTF. I decided to get breakfast early so I could go to the meeting point to wait. I booked my shore excursion privately and I am very glad I did, more on this later on. The only issues was the fear that I could not get off the ship fast enough, but Carnival really has their act together.
Very quiet that early in the morning.
I noticed that this time around food was better than on the first day. Not sure if it was because it was earlier and there were more selections or what. But I did enjoy that breakfast much more than the previous buffet one.
I try to eat light on cruises, but most times that is not accomplished.
That french toast looks kind burnt.. Oh well…
Back in the balcony we were anchoring.
The tenders getting ready. I wonder how they assign the contracts, a lot of money to be made there
So at 7:50 I headed to the meeting place for the tender embarkation. There was a fairly large group of people waiting, maybe 70-100 I think. I took a seat and waited for about 5 minutes, then someone came up on the microphone and told us that the tender was ready for us. Well I lie, first we sang happy birthday for someone who was waiting with us. It was really nice that his wife did this for him. I wish to eventually find someone who would do these type of meaningful acts for me someday.
Anyway, they told us to follow them downstairs, and about 3 minutes later I had boarded the tender. I kid you not, I basically worried for nothing. Again I want to ask you what is the point of spending $50 on FTTF, but then again thats just my opinion and nothing more, to each their own.
I purchased this waterproof wallet for this cruise, I usually have my mom taking care of my stuff while I snorkel and such. And while I am sure everything would be fine onboard the catamaran, I just rather not have to worry about anything while I have fun in the water. Oh by the way all the pictures while on the island were taken with the underwater camera, I decided to leave the more expensive setup in the safe.
Talking about the safe, I rarely use the safe. I usually just put passport and cash in there. But this one was large enough to fit all my photo equipment although not my laptop.
The ship anchors very close to shore, the ride is 2-3 minutes if that.
Isn’t she gorgeous?
Great looking ship.
So I booked my tour with http://stingraysailing.com/ overall a great company. Even if you don’t do it with them, I suggest you do it with a private company that limits the number of people in their tour. I will show you why later on.
I got there a little early and I noticed the meeting location, and he was just setting up camp, it is a very easy location to spot no worries. I said hi and he told me that if everyone was there early we would leave a little early, he told me to meet back with him in 30 minutes. The leaving early part is really good, it allows extra time after the tour is over to do other things.
So I just went around and took some pictures of the port area.
I am not much of a shopper, and without mom there I was not going to go into any of the stores. Plus mom already has a souvenir from Grand Cayman. So I basically sat on a bench and people watched.
A couple of pictures of the shore excursions and their prices offered at port.
I checked back with him and the group was ready to leave, we actually left about 20 minutes prior our set time. Like I said this can be very convenient.
I think it was 9 of us total. The bus was nice and cold when we got inside.
Really odd car, I could not distinguish what it was. It might be a custom car? Anyone?
There was also a Ferrari in that hotel, but I missed it.
someone pointed out that there was a lot of construction, and they were right. Last time I visited they also had a lot of construction going on, I guess its a wealthy developing island.
We got to the marina pretty quick, they had a lot of nice boats there, ours was at the very end of the pier. When I saw the catamaran I was very impressed, it was quite large for only 9 of us. It also seemed freshly painted, because I’ve seen it in other pictures and she used to be white. I kind of like this new look, more pirate like aaaaarrrrrrrrrrrr sorry not sure how to make a pirate noise. I guess is that it must be much easier to hide the wear and tear with a black hull, and it looked really nice.
Most of the boats here were working boats, very few personal pleasure crafts.
