The Cayman Islands, a British overseas territory located in the Western Caribbean Sea and our first port of call on this cruise. The territory comprises the islands of Grand Cayman, Cayman Brac and little Cayman, located south of Cuba and northwest of Jamaica. It is considered a part of the geographic Western Caribbean zone . We arrive shortly after sunrise and with consideration for the coral reef, the ship will anchor offshore in anticipation of shuttling all the passengers to shore. 
I step out on to the balcony as we come to where we are to drop anchor and as I look toward the port, a well-shaped mountain comes to view and I realize it’s a dump site. There’s some irony to it all…sensitivity to preserving the coral reef yet accommodating so many tourists, generating refuse creates an obvious landmark, We know the ships that come to port don’t leave anything behind (We hope to discuss our “Behind the Fun tour in the near future); not garbage nor the people who generate it while visiting.
Our shore excursion is a snorkel expedition close to the landing point as we didn’t want to spend too much time commuting to other destinations. The potential to explore the port on foot is part of our perpetual exercise program and we planned to do some walking after the dive.
We get off of our tendered boat, and walk to the entrance of Grand Cayman, where we wait, for further instructions on where we are to go next for our shore excursion. As we wait we meet some now people and make some new friends. The young lady arrives to take us over to our snorkeling spot. We starts on our way and walk through parts of the Island, enjoying the view of all the ships that are docked just outside the Coral reef, what a sight it is. We arrive not far from where we started, it’s a restaurant, a Mexican restaurant, I might add, and my husband is no fan of Mexican food, or should I say the food is no fan of him. We are excited to start on our new journey, we are fitted with snorkeling equipment, and down to the area my husband goes while I put all the cloths away, we can’t wait to get into the water, and enjoy all the sites of the coral reef and the fish.
He dives in and away he goes, while I stand there watching him leave me behind. And see the big fish (Tarpon) right in front of where you have to get into the water and swim. I couldn’t do it, I stepped into the water and it came up to my neck, I was feeling anxious and had anxiety as I watched the tarpon swim around me. I looked at them and thought they are just to big for me…..So I climbed out of water on to shore, and watched my husband have a great time in the water, as I sat there and took pictures. I felt defeated that I could not enjoy the excursion and I wasted the $35.00 to enjoy it, but I thought maybe next time on our travels I will try again.
After the shore excursion that my husband enjoyed immensely and became hooked to the idea of doing it again, we decided to take a walk around the town to see what was on this little island. We ventured around and checked out some of the shops. Found the famous Margarita ville and some nice little churches along the way. My husband left behind his battery charger so we found a little shop that we thought might carry what we were looking for but it was to no avail. We carried on and walked around and saw the sights.
We were able to walk close to the water’s edge where you could see the many little shops and tarpon in the water. We were told by a diver when you see Tarpon in the water sharks are not far behind. Although we did not see any sharks so I’m going to be skeptical about that one.
We loved the day and it was enjoyed with nice people, adventure, some much-needed sun and more water so back to the ship we went. Once arriving, on the ship, we were able to go to our room, drop everything off, grab and drink and head to the Lido deck where we could watch the rest of the quests come in from the day.
We again had a beautiful supper in the Truffles dining room, cruise was casual night so there was no need to have to get all dressed up, we would usually put on something nice and enjoy the evening fine dining, entertainment and dancing if we felt the need. After supper we headed down to the Karaoke party with Aretha and enjoyed listening to the local ship’s talent. They have a lot more courage then I do to get up on stage and sing. After listening to some of the participants we went and watched the Live Dancing Music show with the Legend Show Band and Singers. They always put on a great event and we did not want to miss that. The show marked the end of our wonderful day and we retired in anticipation of the next day of adventure in Cozumel.
Pictures of our Cruise in the Grand Cayman
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