Reflections of My Travel

Thankfully, I woke up feeling better this morning. I was able to eat a nice breakfast and keep it down. We went to the dining room early enough so that we could take some time to make sure that I would be alright and then we bundled up our snorkeling gear again and took a tender to the shore.

pirate ship in the harbor

mini-dinosaur

We walked around the port of Grand Cayman for a short while and then met up with the group for the Barrier Reef Snorkel. They loaded us on a school bus and took us to some neighborhood canal about ten minutes away. There, we loaded onto a boat for a fifteen minute ride out to the reef. I was pleased to find what was probably the healthiest looking reef we’ve seen outside Hawaii. There were a few times we ended up in areas that were far too shallow for my comfort and hubby got a small bite by a piece of coral but it was still a great snorkel.  

under the sea

We suddenly found ourselves right smack in the middle of school of 500 or so fish.  It was pretty cool to be among such a dense population.

hubby goin' deep

We were in the water for at least an hour and I was actually very surprised because we were the only two out there for the last twenty minutes. I guess the others weren’t quite the snorkeling enthusiasts that we are but I was afraid that the captain of the boat was going to call us back since everyone else was obviously ready to go. When we did finally get called in, I was ready. The motion of the water had started to get into my head again and I certainly didn’t want a repeat of yesterday. The boat ride back didn’t feel great but I didn’t feel like I was going to be sick either. The bus ride back to the ship was a debacle all its own. The school bus that had brought us to the boat was replaced with an extended van when we returned. Hubby and I got in with several people still behind us and it was already full. There were three seats on the left and one seat on the right. We kind of looked around like “where the heck are we all supposed to fit?” The driver looked in and showed us the little “seat” the folded down in the aisle of each row. I put down mine, sat down, and sank to the left. Even with the jump seats, there was barely enough room for our group. Two people huddled together on the seat next to the driver. The whole way back, I did my best to keep my feet out from under my “seat” with its obviously over-extended hinge. I joked with the guy behind me that he might want to do the same because he would surely lose his feet at the ankles if the hinge gave up. Seriously, we were tighter than a can of sardines and our little jump seats had us sitting inches off the floor with our knees tucked under our necks.  And because of my over-extended hinge, I was practically laying in the lap of the guy to my left the whole way.  We all got some serious laughter out of the situation. But enough about that… Back on the ship, we took a long shower and ate a satisfying lunch before relaxing the afternoon away. The evening began with a reception for past guests, which we followed with a stop at the Salvador Dali exhibit. I adore Dali. There was no real show tonight. Instead, they made the marriage show – a typical cruise ship version of the Newlywed Show where they bring up a newlywed, middlywed (25yrs), and oldlywed (50yrs) couple to play – the main show of the evening as a single seating event after our dinner. Granted, I always love seeing this game but it’s generally more of a day-at-sea, afternoon entertainment thing, not a replacement for the nightly main show.  When we got back to our cabin to call it a night, we were shocked to find a strange man in our bed!!!

towel animal du jour: strange man in our bed!

this totally cracked me up. i've never seen one like this.