Tuesday and Wednesday: Grand Cayman and Cozumel
Cast: Me, tkd Lisa, 37, trip planner
DH, Tim, 44, along for the ride
DD, Kaylie 10
DS, Casey 8 ½
Tuesday, Grand Cayman:
As others have said, this stop we were tendered instead of docking. Its pretty shallow for a long way out, so they have to use small boats. Its a very easy process. They had the first few boats reserved for shore excursions with Disney, but we were on one of the first few for open excursions. We had reservations for the 10 1 stingray and snorkle trip with Captain Marvins. We were off the boat by shortly after 8:00. We went into town and got a little breakfast at a market. It was surprisingly not cheap. We got two muffins and two juices and it was something like $6.50 US. We asked for directons to Captain Marvins and got some confusing answers. The people in uniform at the port entry seem to be the best to ask, and they were off by about 3-4 blocks. Basically, you turn left off the ship and go down about ½ to ¾ of a mile. Its a pretty easy walk. There was a restroom there to change, or you could change down by the boat as well. We met up with Catomom and her family who were on the same excursion with us. The kids hit it off well. Their 5 year old daughter wanted to know if Kaylie could babysit her. My answer was that even if they didnt live 2000 miles away from us, I wouldnt want to see what the house looked like when they got home! It turned out that their neighborhood in California was being evacuated for a big forest fire while they were on the trip, and they were understandably concerned. I was glad to read the update that their house was fine when they got home. Kendra, someone out there heard those prayers!
Anyway, on to the snorkling. We took an exciting van trip to the boat. It seems like people down there only know one speed, and its FAST. No problem Mon! We went out past stingray city. They said wed be coming back there later. They had a videographer on board who explained that hed be scuba diving under us and taking a video which hed be happy to sell us! Actually, it was pretty reasonable, about $50 US including shipping for about 20-25 minutes of edited footage of our trip. Our first stop was at a relatively shallow coral reef. DH Tim paired up with DS Casey, while I got DD Kaylie into the water. She was a little concerned at first, but then settled down to seeing things pretty well, as long as she could hold on to my vest strap. Some smart alek kids yelled shark just as Casey jumped in and that was all it took. There was no way he was getting in that water! By the time I tried talking to him, all the rest of the people were loading back in the boat and we were moving on. The second stop was out by the barrier reef, and everyone swam out quite a way to the drop off into the deeper water. Neither kid was willing to get in that time. Tim said that they saw a 5 foot long nurse shark, and the guide fed it and got it to roll over on its back. He said that it was really cool out there. The final stop was stingray city. The rays get right up on you and it can be pretty intimidating. Kaylie went out with me, and panicked about halfway to the shallow area, just about taking me under. She finally got under control, and as long as I held her out of the water, she was fine. She didnt want to get too close to those tails though! Again, Casey wouldnt get in. He felt pretty bad about it, but we just told him that lots of people were scared and it was no big deal. He wanted to go back to the boat and go in the kids lab, so thats what we did. I wanted to get all that salt water off us anyway. Both kids went to the lab, and DH went back ashore looking for some duty free liquor. He had gone in a store who told him they couldnt sell it to him since we were on the Magic. He checked with guest services who told him that the boat has a restriction against unknown people shipping large boxes out to the boat, but that there was no prohibition against bringing liquor on board. To make a long story short, he had to buy it at the duty free shop that was at the edge of the peir. Those people handed it to him across the line, and he carried it to the tender. It was really cheap. He bought 2 fifths of premium liquor for less than $15. It would have been at least $40 at home.
We set sail around 5:30 or 6:00, and watched a really pretty sunset. We got DD for the 6:30 show (Morty the magnificent, which was okay), followed by the family cabaret show. John Charles was the performer and he was great!!! It was a pretty small crowd, and Kaylie was right down by the stage, and she made a bit of commotion. He started interacting with her, and really made a big deal of her. He asked me if I was her mother, and when I said yes, he asked if I had more children. I said yes, and he said I pity you! Anyway, it was a whole lot of fun! Go see him if you get a chance. He was also in the farewell variety show. DD wanted to check into the lab before dinner. Dinner was back in parrot cay. We were in a different table and it was quieter. Our servers still took care of us. DS paged us in the middle of dinner and he came and had dessert with us. FYI, he was still in shorts, but I didnt feel the need to stop back by the room for him to change. It was the only time we were out of dress at the restaurant, but it was no big deal. Again, after dinner we pretty much turned in for the night.
Wed Cozumel:
We didnt have any definite plans for Cozumel. I had intended to take a cab to the San Gerisimo ruins with Kaylie while Casey and Tim hit a beach or something. Tim decided hed like to try to go fishing. While we were looking at the taxi information, it read something like $45 US to go round trip to the San Gerisimo ruins. That seemed pretty steep for something right on Cozumel, when the downtown and beach rates were all under $10. One of the many guys on the street approached us and basically talked Tim into a deep sea fishing charter where wed troll and bottom fish. One interesting thing was he wouldnt take credit cards. Only cash or travelers checks. He said that the banks charged them 10-20% for credit cards. Dont know if it was true or not. Anyway, a quick trip back to the boat for $280 in travelers checks, and we were on our way. It was an old boat, but pretty clean. Unfortunately we didnt even get a bite. We were out for about 3 to 3 ½ hours and all we got was mommy seasick! We did have one of the trolling lines run off a big amount of line, but the fish broke off. Anyway, enough was enough and we headed back in. Once back on land, I was feeling pretty rocky. We all went back to the boat. The kids went to the lab, and I laid down while Tim went back to town to look for a tropical outfit for Kaylie. He couldnt find anything, so he brought both kids shell necklaces. Kaylie was upset that I was sick, so I drug myself out of bed and we went to Mexicalifragalistic (or something like that) night! Casey stayed in the lab. I ate very lightly, but at the end, I needed to get back to the cabin. They did have a very good mariachi band that went into the dining rooms. They were quite authentic and did a great job. We picked Casey up on the way back to the room, and I slept through til morning. I did feel better when I got up.
More later!
Cast: Me, tkd Lisa, 37, trip planner
DH, Tim, 44, along for the ride
DD, Kaylie 10
DS, Casey 8 ½
Tuesday, Grand Cayman:
As others have said, this stop we were tendered instead of docking. Its pretty shallow for a long way out, so they have to use small boats. Its a very easy process. They had the first few boats reserved for shore excursions with Disney, but we were on one of the first few for open excursions. We had reservations for the 10 1 stingray and snorkle trip with Captain Marvins. We were off the boat by shortly after 8:00. We went into town and got a little breakfast at a market. It was surprisingly not cheap. We got two muffins and two juices and it was something like $6.50 US. We asked for directons to Captain Marvins and got some confusing answers. The people in uniform at the port entry seem to be the best to ask, and they were off by about 3-4 blocks. Basically, you turn left off the ship and go down about ½ to ¾ of a mile. Its a pretty easy walk. There was a restroom there to change, or you could change down by the boat as well. We met up with Catomom and her family who were on the same excursion with us. The kids hit it off well. Their 5 year old daughter wanted to know if Kaylie could babysit her. My answer was that even if they didnt live 2000 miles away from us, I wouldnt want to see what the house looked like when they got home! It turned out that their neighborhood in California was being evacuated for a big forest fire while they were on the trip, and they were understandably concerned. I was glad to read the update that their house was fine when they got home. Kendra, someone out there heard those prayers!
Anyway, on to the snorkling. We took an exciting van trip to the boat. It seems like people down there only know one speed, and its FAST. No problem Mon! We went out past stingray city. They said wed be coming back there later. They had a videographer on board who explained that hed be scuba diving under us and taking a video which hed be happy to sell us! Actually, it was pretty reasonable, about $50 US including shipping for about 20-25 minutes of edited footage of our trip. Our first stop was at a relatively shallow coral reef. DH Tim paired up with DS Casey, while I got DD Kaylie into the water. She was a little concerned at first, but then settled down to seeing things pretty well, as long as she could hold on to my vest strap. Some smart alek kids yelled shark just as Casey jumped in and that was all it took. There was no way he was getting in that water! By the time I tried talking to him, all the rest of the people were loading back in the boat and we were moving on. The second stop was out by the barrier reef, and everyone swam out quite a way to the drop off into the deeper water. Neither kid was willing to get in that time. Tim said that they saw a 5 foot long nurse shark, and the guide fed it and got it to roll over on its back. He said that it was really cool out there. The final stop was stingray city. The rays get right up on you and it can be pretty intimidating. Kaylie went out with me, and panicked about halfway to the shallow area, just about taking me under. She finally got under control, and as long as I held her out of the water, she was fine. She didnt want to get too close to those tails though! Again, Casey wouldnt get in. He felt pretty bad about it, but we just told him that lots of people were scared and it was no big deal. He wanted to go back to the boat and go in the kids lab, so thats what we did. I wanted to get all that salt water off us anyway. Both kids went to the lab, and DH went back ashore looking for some duty free liquor. He had gone in a store who told him they couldnt sell it to him since we were on the Magic. He checked with guest services who told him that the boat has a restriction against unknown people shipping large boxes out to the boat, but that there was no prohibition against bringing liquor on board. To make a long story short, he had to buy it at the duty free shop that was at the edge of the peir. Those people handed it to him across the line, and he carried it to the tender. It was really cheap. He bought 2 fifths of premium liquor for less than $15. It would have been at least $40 at home.
We set sail around 5:30 or 6:00, and watched a really pretty sunset. We got DD for the 6:30 show (Morty the magnificent, which was okay), followed by the family cabaret show. John Charles was the performer and he was great!!! It was a pretty small crowd, and Kaylie was right down by the stage, and she made a bit of commotion. He started interacting with her, and really made a big deal of her. He asked me if I was her mother, and when I said yes, he asked if I had more children. I said yes, and he said I pity you! Anyway, it was a whole lot of fun! Go see him if you get a chance. He was also in the farewell variety show. DD wanted to check into the lab before dinner. Dinner was back in parrot cay. We were in a different table and it was quieter. Our servers still took care of us. DS paged us in the middle of dinner and he came and had dessert with us. FYI, he was still in shorts, but I didnt feel the need to stop back by the room for him to change. It was the only time we were out of dress at the restaurant, but it was no big deal. Again, after dinner we pretty much turned in for the night.
Wed Cozumel:
We didnt have any definite plans for Cozumel. I had intended to take a cab to the San Gerisimo ruins with Kaylie while Casey and Tim hit a beach or something. Tim decided hed like to try to go fishing. While we were looking at the taxi information, it read something like $45 US to go round trip to the San Gerisimo ruins. That seemed pretty steep for something right on Cozumel, when the downtown and beach rates were all under $10. One of the many guys on the street approached us and basically talked Tim into a deep sea fishing charter where wed troll and bottom fish. One interesting thing was he wouldnt take credit cards. Only cash or travelers checks. He said that the banks charged them 10-20% for credit cards. Dont know if it was true or not. Anyway, a quick trip back to the boat for $280 in travelers checks, and we were on our way. It was an old boat, but pretty clean. Unfortunately we didnt even get a bite. We were out for about 3 to 3 ½ hours and all we got was mommy seasick! We did have one of the trolling lines run off a big amount of line, but the fish broke off. Anyway, enough was enough and we headed back in. Once back on land, I was feeling pretty rocky. We all went back to the boat. The kids went to the lab, and I laid down while Tim went back to town to look for a tropical outfit for Kaylie. He couldnt find anything, so he brought both kids shell necklaces. Kaylie was upset that I was sick, so I drug myself out of bed and we went to Mexicalifragalistic (or something like that) night! Casey stayed in the lab. I ate very lightly, but at the end, I needed to get back to the cabin. They did have a very good mariachi band that went into the dining rooms. They were quite authentic and did a great job. We picked Casey up on the way back to the room, and I slept through til morning. I did feel better when I got up.
More later!
Howdy neighbor....
