Showing posts with label Grand Cayman. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Grand Cayman. Show all posts

Wednesday, July 11, 2018

VLOG: Day 5 - Grand Cayman & Snorkeling With The Stingrays!

Continuing with our Disney Cruise from this past October, (super late, I know) here's the next video in the series! On our next port day, we spent time in Grand Cayman and went snorkeling with the stingrays! This was by far my favorite excursion of our trip!


I loved making this video as it reminded me of all of our fun times in Grand Cayman! Check it out below!


After this, just three videos remain and the recaps for this trip will be complete. If anything, they are just making me even more excited for our upcoming Disney Cruise in August! I cannot wait!!

Have you ever snorkeled with the stingrays? What were your thoughts on the experience?
If you missed previous days,  check out the recaps here:

Wednesday, November 22, 2017

10th Anniversary Vacay - Day 5, Grand Cayman

When I last left off with our 10th Anniversary cruise recap, we were leaving Cozumel and heading to Grand Cayman. This actually turned out to be one of my favorite days of the entire cruise!

      My morning began with a run around the jogging deck. I'd planned to fit my regular 3 weekly runs in during the week but also wanted to give myself plenty of time to rest and rejuvenate. Our excursion that day didn't start until later in the morning so I figured it was the perfect time for a run!

      Our excursion that day included a visit to Stingray City. I'd never snorkeled with stingrays in prior to this cruise so I had no clue what to expect! 


      When we arrived at the sandbar, there were at least 50 stingrays swimming all around the docked boats. Each boat had its own bucket of feed and those stingrays sure knew what the bucket meant!


      We got in the water and before long, stingrays were swarming our area. Every now and again, I would feel one swim up against my leg. It was the oddest yet coolest feeling!


      Such gentle creatures!


      Why, hello there! :)


      This was definitely one of the coolest excursions I'd ever done!


      Our boat captains even let us hold a stingray for a photo!


      Such an incredible experience!


      On our way back to the port, I kept my eye out for the local restaurant offerings along the way. We ate at Hard Rock last time we were in Grand Cayman and this time we wanted a local fare. We had several hours to kill, so we headed over to Rackam's which was one of the restaurants I spotted on our way back to the port. Their menu offered seafood which sounded perfect to me!


      Bonus: we had an amazing view of our ship from our table!


      I ordered the fish and chips since we were in British territory and it was delicious!

      After dinner, we walked over to the shopping area and both Melissa and I purchased a Grand Cayman charm for our Pandora bracelets! We also sat for a few minutes and enjoyed a little free wifi!


      Our evening dinner was in Enchanted Garden and I began by ordering broccoli cheese soup off of the kids menu. :)


      One of my favorite dishes of the cruise included turkey and dressing...reminded me of Thanksgiving!


      Dessert that evening was fabulous, too!


      Our assistant server offered to take a picture of us in the restaurant. Come to find out, he used to work for photography on board the cruise line!


      The remainder of our evening was spent in the adult area watching Match Your Mate!


      This show was hysterical as always! It's definitely a must-see on every cruise we've taken!


      It wasn't long before we called it a night! We had another fun day ahead - this time in Jamaica where I had the opportunity to cross an item off of my "must-do" list - zip-lining in a tropical location!

      Thanks for following along! :)

      Wednesday, December 9, 2015

      Merrytime Cruise - Disney Wonder Day 4

      Happy Wednesday!

      Today I'm back with another recap of our most recent cruise on board the Disney Wonder! :)

      Here's a list of previous recaps in case you're just joining here...
      • Disney Wonder Day 1 (Boarding)
      • Disney Wonder Day 2 (At Sea Day) 
      • Disney Wonder Day 3 (Cozumel, Mexico) 
      • Disney Wonder Day 4 (Grand Cayman)
      • Disney Wonder Day 5 (Falmouth, Jamaica)
      • Disney Wonder Day 6 (At Sea Day) 
      • Disney Wonder Day 7 (At Sea Day)
        • Our Day 4 itinerary included a stop at Grand Cayman and an adult only tour of the city, Turtle Farm, and Hell (Grand Cayman, that is)!


          We'd only visited Grand Cayman once before and it had been a really long time, so we enjoyed wandering the city before our afternoon tour took place.


          First, I took a  "bump" picture for my weekly pregnancy updates, then we headed upstairs for breakfast!


          I mostly ate the french toast and not so much the donut. I also wasn't a fan of the muesli this time.


          In order to get to Grand Cayman, you have to take a tender boat. For DCL in  particular, tender tickets are handed out to guests until around noon, then you can pretty much board the tender boats without any wait.


          Notice his shirt! :)


          Hello again, Grand Cayman!


          We were amazed by the roosters all over the city! 

          After shopping a while, we decided it was time for lunch. The city was so empty as we were the only cruise ship in port, so we pretty much picked whatever we wanted without any wait!


          After a little deliberation, we decided on Hard Rock. The food was good but definitely over priced (which we figured it would be).

          As the time drew closer for our excursion, we made our way towards the dock to meet up with our group. Thankfully, we didn't have to get on a tender boat and re-board the ship in order to meet up with our crew.

          Our first stop along the tour was the Cayman Turtle Farm.


          The conservation efforts that are taking place were really neat to hear!



          We also loved seeing all of the giant sea turtles up close!


          This is a crockigator (a cross between a crocodile and an alligator)! You can see his eyes/head/nose sticking out above the water.... He was found in Cuba, rescued, and brought to the Turtle Farm!


          We also had the chance to see the hatchery and hold baby sea turtles! If they started to squirm, all you had to do was rub under their chin and they would calm down. It was so cute!

          Baby Seal might have received a present from the gift shop here...a stuffed sea turtle named Sparky! :)


          Our last stop on the tour was one of the biggest tourist traps I'd ever seen - the city of Hell, Grand Cayman.


          The city is named "Hell" because of the black rock formations that can be found out behind the souvenir  shops.


          It was cool to see (and we mailed a post card to my parents as a funny-haha), but we were not impressed overall.


          On our way back to the dock, we drove past the 7 mile beach which was gorgeous!

          After returning, we stopped by the Tortuga factory for some rum cakes for my coworkers. They also had free wifi inside the store, so we text a few friends and checked social media, etc.



          Before we had a chance to leave the store, we were faced with a monsoon. Seriously, the rain was coming down in torrents and there were (what seemed like) huge rivers of water flowing throughout the port area. It was impossible to get back to the tender boats without being fully soaked although we tried our best. Just as soon as the monsoon began, it stopped and a beautiful rainbow came out to say hello!


          This is a tender boat, just in case you were wondering! :)


          Bye Grand Cayman! Until next time! :)


          The evening hosted another gorgeous sunset!


          Dinner that evening was in Animator's Palate which also brought along one of our favorite menu items, butternut squash soup! YUM!


          My husband might have skipped the salad option and ordered two bowls of this instead!


          Mickey also came out to say hello! :)


          Our wait staff on this cruise was beyond excellent! We had a fantastic time with them!!


          After another great day, we called it a night!

          Up next: Jamaica! Stay tuned! :)

          Have you ever been to Grand Cayman? What's your favorite thing to do there? We snorkeled on our first trip!

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