grand cayman island...

this was our first port of call & our first excursion. we decided to to dolphin cove and stingray city! and let me just tell you... it was fanfreakingtastic! such a fun adventure! originally we were supposed to go the port in georgetown, but because of the weather we had to dock somewhere else. we had a little ferry ride to the island than a bus ride to dolphin cove.

we got to get in the water with dolphins... we didnt swim with them though, but it's okay. it was a little chilly. we started with our hands on the top of the water and our dolphin (nemo) swam around the group and let everyone feel his belly. nicoley & i were the first ones down on the platform and we got to take turns standing at the edge. the first time we stood with our hands out and nemo would come pop out right in front of us... like half way out of the water and we were supposed to hold on to his pectoral fins and dance with him (and smile for the camera! lol!) and then he'd go down the row with the other people in our group. next, we were supposed to lean over the water and nemo came up and "kissed" our cheeks... then we turned to him and kissed him straight on the nose. that's right... we kissed a dolphin! it was hilarious! after that we switched spots and let other people come down and have a shot at it. nemo would do jumps and splash us occasionally... it was a really amazing opportunity to play with a dolphin! they had 4 or 5 other non-wild dolphins in the cove... it was so neat to see them so close... and not behind glass like at aquariums.

after that we jumped on a boat and took a ride out to a sandbar nicknamed stingray city! there must have been half a dozen other boats out there with people in the water all around. our boat driver and this 16 or 17 year old kid jumped in the water and started wrestling with these giant stingrays... we hopped in next. there must have been a dozen or so. they held them up so we could see their giant sucker mouths. it was so fantastically cool! these stingrays would come and brush up against your legs and you could just reach out and touch them. they are seriously fascinating animals! and the water was so crystal clear! we were on a sandbar that was probably waist high, but every now and then a big wave would come and kinda push you around. so everybody was in there bumping into each other and bumping into the stingrays. our boat driver got a big female stingray to the surface and had everybody come and hold her up and give her a kiss "for 7 years good luck." who doesn't want good luck? so nicole and i totally did it! after that we turned around and got a "stingray massage" haha... that part was kinda trippy! after everybody who wanted a picture had gotten a picture the guides pulled out a bucket of dead squids... they let some of the squid juice out and then more and more stingrays started coming. it was quite the little feeding frenzy! they showed us how to hold the squid with our thumbs tucked in so they wouldn't get sucked off. anyway... so there are dozens of stingrays swimming around going crazy. they would swim like half way out of the water up your back trying to get these squids. and the wind was picking up so there were more waves and we were just doing all we could not to step on these big ol' suckers and pull a steve irwin! nicole was kinda freaking out a bit and she started screaming which made me scream and then our guides were yelling at us to tell us to stop screaming... haha after that she decided she was done so she just threw her squid in the water.... i really was nervous so i put my hand in the water waiting for a stingray to get it and all the sudden this huge 14 inch fish zooms up grabs the squid and takes off! i didn't even get to feed a stingray! haha... it was still crazy cool though. they told us not to touch our arms or legs or anything with our squid-smelling hand because the stingrays would come up and give you a big stingray hickey... lol!! and don't worry... that didn't happen to us!  seriously though... i think the stingrays were my favorite part of the whole cruise! it was so so cool! :)

after we were done we went to buy the pictures they had taken... we were looking at them and the computer screen went black. apparently they had deleted our pictures. we made some friends on the excursion... if they find our pictures on their cd they are going to email them to us... keep your fingers crossed! so we don't have any of our dolphin kisses :(  but nicole was rocking the waterproof camera, so at least we got some!! and the guy we were working with felt bad so he took us out to get pictures with birds... it was neat, but not quite as cool as the dolphins! lol... what a day, eh?

ps... they have "give way" signs not "yield" signs... and they drove on the wrong side of the road! lol...