Grand Cayman is a tender port and after a quick breakfast upstairs we are slathering on the sunscreen and gathering our snorkel gear for a great day ashore.
I reserved Captain Marvins Sting Ray City excursion with one snorkel stop. You can check out their site here.
We head down to the Island Dining room for tendering. As an elite you get priority tendering but pretty much everyone in the room is able to board the tender right away. The time is around 930 am.
The tenders are operated from shore side and they are huge with two levels. It does take time to disembark though.
We are at the Royal Walter Cruise Terminal - the terminal to the West. There are three terminals, but since we are the only ship in port we are tendering to Royal Walter Cruise Terminal.
There are numerous shops, bars, restrooms, taxi stands and a large covered area for those on excursions to wait out of the sun.
Numerous people within the pier and just outside the terminal offering tours and taxis.
The prices our outline on a large board. Here is a picture of the rates.
We cross the street and stop in a lovely coffee shop called Cayman Coffee Club for iced coffees and to wait.
We don't have to be at the Captain Marvin office until 10:45. We arrive at 10:50 and we are told they were just about to give up on us. When we point out that we should of been here at 10:45 we just shrug. Note the boat only leaves at 11:15 and we are only a few minutes from the boat.
You can see our ship in the distance
The boat is very nice, and newer. We first used Captain Marvin over 15 years ago and loved it. Once again Captain Marvin's tour did not disappoint. There was only 22 people on the tour. Many from the ship and many from people staying on the island for a vacation.
When we arrive at Stingray City it is crowded but not as crowded as we have seen in the past. The ships' excursion has a few boats here and they are packed. Glad we went independent.
The water at the sandbar is not very deep, around waist high but the water is a bit choppy and it is hard to stand at times.
There are a lot of stingrays and at first it is a bit freaky but once you get use to it it is lovely to be surrounded by such beautiful graceful creatures.
We all get to hold one and even kiss it and then they have the stingray glide up our back!
Later the squid comes out and we can feed them. Boy talk about some suction!
We are here for about 45 minutes. Lots of time and we never felt rushed. The crew from Captain Marvins was very professional and helpful and worked very well with everyone and they were especially good with the children.
Our next stop was a snorkel site at a coral reef. We spent about a half hour here and got to see some lovely fish.
The water temperature is so warm. Warmer than in the winter months that is for sure.
They do offer all the photos they took of us for a price of $50 US all placed on a USB drive. The pictures are cute and we thought about buying them but for $50 US that is a bit much for us especially when you convert to Canadian which is around $65 Canadian.
We are back at the pier around 2 pm and board the tender back to the ship.
It is hot, our suits are wet, and our shorts/t-shirt over the swimsuits are wet too. Rather uncomfortable.
Back in the cabin we shower and I order a pizza to the cabin. It takes about 30 minutes and it costs $3 for delivery. But the pizza is huge - more than enough for two people and it is hot. But it is no where near as good as Alfredos Pizzeria that the Royal has (and other ships have it too).
Not sure if we will be eating supper tonight after the late lunch but we have decided to go to the Captain Circle Party at 7:30.
Tomorrow we are in Roatan but not until noon and apparently there will be another ship in port with us.
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