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Grand Cayman
The second shore excursion on the cruise was on the island of Grand Cayman. The two people who had been on the cruise before arranged for an independent tour of part of the island, the Turtle Farm, and swimming with stingrays on a sandbar offshore known as Stingray City.
We sat around for an hour, because we arrived on shore an hour early for our tour, then found out the tour was delayed an hour, so we split up and poked about the town until time for the tour. As usual, I contracted a very very bad headache - I got one every day I went on shore - but once I got into the water it went away, so I'm assuming a good deal of it was due to overheating.
The full photoset is posted here, but here's a few of the best pics.
We hung around the dock for a couple of hours because we got there an hour early, and then the tour was delayed an hour. This is a small frog that was nonplussed to find itself the center of attention, but it really was the most interesting thing happening at the time.
It escaped to a small tree potted nearby, but it was still the most interesting thing happening.
Pretty beach shot.
We stopped at this place called Hell, which is some interesting rock formations and a gift shop with a guy dressed in a red satin cape who says things like "Have a Hell of a good time!" The rocks were vaguely interesting, but hardly worth a stop.
Grand Cayman is overrun with feral chickens. The guide said, I think, that they got loose during a recent hurricane which destroyed coops and fences, and have established a breeding population.
This is at the Cayman Turtle Farm, which is a farming and breeding facility that raises turtles for both food and to release.
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ebony14 in the background and Leora in the foreground, with a distinctly unimpressed turtle.
This turtle disapproves of you.
Off to swim with stingrays: after the swim, getting back on the boat. I was in the water during the swim, obviously, so I don't have pictures of that from my camera. I had an underwater camera, but Toby's got that and hasn't had it developed yet, so I have no idea if any of those pictures came out. And I should be receiving a CD of the cheeseball shots that the photographer took sometime in the next couple of days - I'll upload some of those once it gets here and I get copies done for everyone else on the trip.
The orange-shorts guy is the boat's captain. You can see some shadowy rays in the water near the boat. They're big, and feel very strange to hold. You hold them by putting your arms out while the guide maneuvers a ray into your arms, bumping against your chest. The ray apparently doesn't have a whole lot of brain for concepts like "turn to the side" because it's usually quite happy to sit there, gently flailing. It feels weird - it's big, and solid, and feels like a cold slab of meat that just happens to be moving.
Some of the other boats on the sandbar, as we're leaving. You can see a couple of the rays in the foreground.
And finally a photo of our ship, from the tender on the way back to to it. Twelve decks. The orange-lifeboats deck is deck 4, the open deck right below it, right above the red line, is deck 3.
We sat around for an hour, because we arrived on shore an hour early for our tour, then found out the tour was delayed an hour, so we split up and poked about the town until time for the tour. As usual, I contracted a very very bad headache - I got one every day I went on shore - but once I got into the water it went away, so I'm assuming a good deal of it was due to overheating.
The full photoset is posted here, but here's a few of the best pics.
We hung around the dock for a couple of hours because we got there an hour early, and then the tour was delayed an hour. This is a small frog that was nonplussed to find itself the center of attention, but it really was the most interesting thing happening at the time.
It escaped to a small tree potted nearby, but it was still the most interesting thing happening.
Pretty beach shot.
We stopped at this place called Hell, which is some interesting rock formations and a gift shop with a guy dressed in a red satin cape who says things like "Have a Hell of a good time!" The rocks were vaguely interesting, but hardly worth a stop.
Grand Cayman is overrun with feral chickens. The guide said, I think, that they got loose during a recent hurricane which destroyed coops and fences, and have established a breeding population.
This is at the Cayman Turtle Farm, which is a farming and breeding facility that raises turtles for both food and to release.
ebony14 in the background and Leora in the foreground, with a distinctly unimpressed turtle.This turtle disapproves of you.
Off to swim with stingrays: after the swim, getting back on the boat. I was in the water during the swim, obviously, so I don't have pictures of that from my camera. I had an underwater camera, but Toby's got that and hasn't had it developed yet, so I have no idea if any of those pictures came out. And I should be receiving a CD of the cheeseball shots that the photographer took sometime in the next couple of days - I'll upload some of those once it gets here and I get copies done for everyone else on the trip.
The orange-shorts guy is the boat's captain. You can see some shadowy rays in the water near the boat. They're big, and feel very strange to hold. You hold them by putting your arms out while the guide maneuvers a ray into your arms, bumping against your chest. The ray apparently doesn't have a whole lot of brain for concepts like "turn to the side" because it's usually quite happy to sit there, gently flailing. It feels weird - it's big, and solid, and feels like a cold slab of meat that just happens to be moving.
Some of the other boats on the sandbar, as we're leaving. You can see a couple of the rays in the foreground.
And finally a photo of our ship, from the tender on the way back to to it. Twelve decks. The orange-lifeboats deck is deck 4, the open deck right below it, right above the red line, is deck 3.
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Plus, you know ... Patrick Stewart.
That said, Kovu will have my heart forever.
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I'd go again, but probably to one of the other islands.
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Did you feed the stingrays? We gave them raw squid, and they were very happy. At least, I assume they were. It's hard to tell. But they were downright cuddly afterwards. I bought a stuffed one and named it Fraser, because I can't stop myself from making stupid fandom jokes.
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Also, nice pictures.
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Thanks. :)