George Town, Grand Cayman

Day 6 – George Town, Grand Cayman

Our last port was Grand Cayman. It was our 4^th time here and we have always snorkeled. We have done Stingray city on every visit, so this time we just wanted to snorkel. There is good snorkeling from shore so we spent the day doing that. Stingray City is fun and everyone should do it, but we have done it here and numerous other places around the world so doing it again seemed silly. Plus, the snorkeling place where they take you is usually over crowded and the coral kicked up so we’d rather snorkel where it is better.

We got off the ship and walked the short distance to Eden Rock & Devil’s Grotto. We rented a locker for $5.00 at the dive shop and then snorkeled out to the reef.

 the dive shop

 view from shore

the area where you get into the water

We headed for Devil’s Grotto first and it has dramatic coral formations with cliffs, valleys, caves etc. We did see one nurse shark. Lots of sea fans, and soft corals and pretty fish.

 nurse shark near the bottom

 

We came in and walked next door to have lunch. We eat here almost every time we are here. It’s tasty and you can sit outside when you are wet from snorkeling. We had a begging chicken for the whole time we were there. Too cute!

 the restaurant we walked to

 Paradise Seaside Grill

 the begging chicken

 she really liked the fries

 steak tacos

 sweet plantains

Fish sandwich

After lunch we went back out and snorkeled Eden Rock & Devil’s Grotto again. It was sunnier out so it made for prettier snorkeling and we could see way more fish. We did come across one beautiful turtle. It’s an interesting spot as it is right in front of where some of the cruise ships anchor. They also installed a couple of great ladders for getting in and out of the water so my feet really appreciated them. Most times we have been mobbed by Tarpon as we were getting in and out of the water, but they weren’t there today.

cute Balloon fish

Another great day in the water!

 walking back to the port

 the tender boat

 photos from the tender

Disney ship from the tender

We boarded the ship early since we needed to get ready for dinner and it was another formal night. (not that most people dressed for it) We don’t care how people dress and it’s not vital that we even have formal nights, but we are “rule followers” so we do. If they are going to have rules they should enforce them, or let all of us just wear whatever. (true on all cruise lines)

 from the balcony we watched the other ships leave port - Disney

 Princess

 Pullmantur

 sunset from the balcony

We got caught up with everyone and what they did in port.

recognition of the wait staff

Tonight, was another production show called Center Stage. It was the most hodge podge collection of things put together that we have ever seen. They had almost all of the small groups playing around the ship perform, plus the singers and dancers performed, but again didn’t gel well together. It wasn’t a production show in that there was no real theme.

Day 7 - Sea Day

Today, we spent the morning packing up. It was Linda’s birthday and she chose to have lunch at Izumi Japanese specialty restaurant. The 12 of us gathered there and I have to say it was my favorite meal of the trip. Greg had a combo sushi platter and I had shrimp and vegetable tempura. Others tried the soups, hot rock cooking and more! Why didn't I bring my camera?

We went to the final Bingo and Greg won $5.00 on the “crack it” ticket. We didn’t get any Bingos. A nice young couple won the free cruise given away as the last prize. We relaxed the rest of the afternoon before our final dinner with the group. We had a free play in the Casino and Greg won $10.00 (it was a free $5.00 play)

Linda got her special birthday dessert and we all sang Happy Birthday at dinner. The goodbyes were long and hard. Ugh. Miss those guys already....

Again, there was only a 7:45 show for the farewell so we missed that. There was a 10:30 adult comedy show by the same comedian Lucas Bohn. He was pretty funny.

this was our last towel critter - too cute!

Jim also emailed me a couple of photos so I will include them here - from 1st formal night

 Annette, Greg, Norm, Linda, Carol

Holly, Nick, Elaine, Carol, Linda (Norm is hidden and those are the backs of our heads

Here is the YouTube link for the snorkeling in Grand Cayman:

Cayman https://youtu.be/2SFIPu6YWCw 

I'll do a "final thoughts of the cruise" in my next post. Mainly our thoughts on Royal Caribbean since the group we traveled with were the highlight for sure! Great people and we enjoyed every minute.