4/10 western cruise part 4: Grand Cayman

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Jul 30, 2000
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Cast: me(39) , DH(40), DS (14)- Zach, and DS (12)-Trevor
We have been on the 3 & 4 day cruises, but this was our first 7 day. It was also our first time booking a cruise using our DVC points.

4/13
Watched the sunrise from deck 10 as we pulled into Grand Cayman. This would actually be the last sunrise I catch on our trip as tomorrow I will finally learn to sleep in. We had a 1:40 Shipwreck Snorkel Tour booked, which left our morning pretty open. Luckily, Zach woke up feeling better this morning and was ready to venture out. We all had breakfast in Lumiere's, then headed over to the Walt Disney Theater to get our tendering tickets. The CM working there was out of tickets so he said to just go down and get on the tender. There was no longer a line so it was no big deal.

When we got to the island, we bought a few t-shirts at the Hard Rock Cafe, and looked around some of the other stores. Lots of pirate statues to take pictures with. We walked over to Abanks Dive area and there were a lot of people snorkeling right off shore. We ate lunch there, I think the restaurant is called "Paradise" something, can't remember. The food was OK, not great, and pretty expensive. After lunch we still had some time to kill so we just went in a few more shops, then walked over to the pier to meet for our excursion.

I have never really snorkeled before, at least not out in the ocean. I will admit I was pretty nervous about the whole thing. But once I got in the water, it was great! There were a ton of fish to see, and we were snorkeling with the Magic right behind us. It was definitely cool!. We snorkeled around a reef for about 45 minutes, then moved over to the shipwrecked Callie, where we had about 45 more minutes of snorkeling. This is were we saw a couple of tarpons, which are about 6 feet long and kind of shark-like looking! Good thing our guide warned about these beforehand and told us not to yell out the S word if we saw one! We had bought a new digitial camera about a month ago, and also purchased an underwater housing unit to use for snorkeling. This was our first time using it, and unfortunately I didn't quite have the hang of it. As I went about taking picture after picture, I apparently was not holding the button down long enough. So while I thought I had taken 40-50 pictures, I ended up with 12. By the time I figured out I was using it wrong, we were almost done. I have some pictures of the Callie and a few fish, but none of the reef, and none that show the Magic in the background. Oh well, hopefully my boys got some good pictures on their disposable cameras.

After snorkeling, we caught the last tender back and went to the room to shower and change. We saw Hercules, which I liked better than the last time we saw it. Had dinner at Animator's Palate again. The boys were tired and just wanted to watch a movie in the room, while DH and I went to Rockin Bar D for 80's night. We met up with Denvick and Hans Solo and their wives, and had a blast. DH and I, as well as both Denvick and his wife, were chosen to participate in different skits. I don't want to give anything away to those of you planning your trips, but it was really funny! Denvick-you were awesome! We were having so much fun and were about the last ones to leave. We finally went back to our cabin where we found the boys already asleep. Tomorrow we do the Jeep Safari Tour booked in Cozumel.

Oops, I forgot to mention that this was also the evening of the Castaway Club reception. It was held from 5:15- 6:00. They had a nice selection of snacks and drinks. DH thinks we were drinking rum runners, but I don't really even know! The Captain mentioned that there would be knew itineraries that should be announced in May. The reception was so much larger compared to the one we went to two years ago. There were a lot of return cruisers on this trip!
 
I noticed you said that you were sitting looking out the window at the sunrise. Do the windows open? A Carnival ship that I was on had a window, but it did not open. That was a bummer!

Good report!

Willie
 
Most of the time I went up to deck 10 to watch the sunrise as it was a much better view. No, the windows do not open in the room. In fact, after our rough night at sea, there was actually sea spray coating our window and we were on deck 7! Once the spray dried, it left salt crystals on our window which stayed there the rest of the week. You still had a decent view out the window, but the salt crystals were somewhat annoying.
 

You said that you bought a digital camera that had an available underwater housing...what camera?

THanks for the report.
 


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