Cayman Islands post #3 (July19-20)

On Tuesday, Sarah and John had a another scuba dive planned and Gary and Heidi and Charlie and I went on a snorkel excursion.  One of the most recognizable things to do on Grand Cayman is to visit "Sting Ray City".  Sting Ray City is a small sand-bar area off the shore where hundreds of Sting-rays hang out and wait to swim with the tourists and the free food that said tourists bring with them. Our excursion first brought us snorkeling to a coral reef about 20 minutes off the shore.  It was good to do the snorkeling first - it was decent snorkeling where you were fairly close to the fish.  And it made visiting the sting rays even more fun.  The pictures didn't turn out as well from that trip - but the highlight was when one of the tour guides played with an eel.

Then is was off to see the sting rays - the highlight of the trip.  The boat crew members gave a short lesson on sting rays and how they are misunderstood creatures.  Really they are quite docile and can be touched and fed.  Because Sting Ray City is located on a sand-bar, everyone can stand because the water is only a couple feet deep.

Charlie jumped right in because he had been there before...

...but Katie and Heidi were a little apprehensive of these large sting-rays coming right up to us.

Eventually, Charlie and the tour guide got Katie to hold the sting ray...

And everyone else got in the fun, too.

If you ever go - we would recommend Moby Dick Tours.  The 3 tour guides really know how to make the trip fun, and are very helpful.  The combination of snorkeling first and the knowledge they have, along with the best price we'd found - it's the best option.

After the snorkel trip, we went back to Rackham's - where we'd jumped off the dock the night before - but this time for lunch.  The guys at Moby Dick recommended the place, and we got 10% off for saying that's why we came.  Too bad we didn't find it for dinner the night before - the food was really good!  They are said to have the best fish and chips on the island, and we'd agree with that assessment.  Their fried grouper sandwich was also really good.  Retracing our steps, we went back to Jimmy Buffet's Margaritaville after lunch for drinks and some more trips down the water slide.

Tuesday evening, we all made separate dinner plans to have a little time alone.  Sarah and John were celebrating their 3rd wedding anniversary.  Charlie and I made reservations at a local Italian place called Ristorante Pappagallo and as you can see from the pictures it was perfect for a romantic dinner and our meals were delicious.  This is another one we'd recommend - it's at the very North tip of 7-mile beach and requires a cab ride.  But it was worth it!

After dinner, we met up with Sarah and John at Calico Jack's, a tiki bar on the ocean just a few blocks down from our hotel.  It was "Jam Night", which is kinda like open mic night, with a band that acts as the host.  Some were better than others, but it was a lot of fun listening to some local talent.  There was one guy in particular that rocked the place - he looked like a shorter version of Manny Pacquiao and was incredible on the electric guitar.

We didn't get a very good picture of him...but here he is:

We walked along the beach back to the hotel and said good-bye to Sarah and John because they were heading home the next day.

Wednesday, we relaxed by the pool some more and then Gary and Heidi and Charlie and I took a sunset caterman cruise to Rum Point for dinner.  The views were amazing and we filled up on lots of food and drinks.

Thursday morning, we met Gary and Heidi for breakfast and then they had to catch their flight home.  Charlie and I decided to go visit the turtle farm and Hell, which are 2 of the popular tourist attractions on the island.  Hell is basically this small little section of the island with lots of black rocks where nothing grows.  It is has a small little gift shop where you can buy post-cards and have them post-marked from Hell.  We sent one to my parents and apparently the mail service is really slow coming from Hell...took about 15 days to arrive to Ohio.

(the guy that owns the property called Hell puts these little wooden figures of the devil in the rocks) 

We got to the turtle farm with only about an hour to look around before it closed, but it was enough time to pick up all the turtles we could.

After the turtle farm, we walked around some shops near our hotel and went to dinner at Hemingways, another great restaurant with nice sunset views.

Friday morning we squeezed in our last few hours at the pool and then packed up and headed to the airport.  We arrived back in Newark, New Jersey to record breaking heat on the East Coast.  It was a great trip with 2 really fun couples and we all agreed we would love to go back again.