Caribbean Cruise 2002:
Day 4 - Georgetown, Cayman Islands

Tuesday, December 10, 2002: We were most looking forward to our day in Georgetown, Grand Cayman. We've been hearing about Stingray City in the Cayman Islands for years, so it was great to finally visit ourselves. We got an early start and arrived before it got too crowded. All the black shapes underwater in this photo are large stingrays.

It was amazing to be in the water with the rays. After years of being fed, they are very tame, and will brush up against you to see if you are holding any squid for them.

Sometimes, bravery gave way to surprise as the rays ventured a little too close for comfort.

Our tour guide, Justin, lifted a ray to show us the ray's mouth.

Justin made sure that we each had an opportunity to hold one if we dared. They were very gentle animals.

On our way back to Georgetown, we took our second feet photo while seated at the front of our charter boat, the Classic Hatt.

Here's the port in Georgetown where the tenders arrive from the cruise ships. We spent the afternoon shopping and looking for a restaurant. We were amazed at how few restaurants there were for so many tourists. We finally found a tiny stand on a side street selling jerk chicken. We snapped up a tiny carved marble stingray and a bag full of rum cakes, but resisted the high pressure jewelry stores.

As we sailed away at the end of the day, we got a larger view of Georgetown.

Also leaving port at the same time (presumably to race us to Cozumel) were Royal Caribbean's Splendour of the Seas, ...

Disney's Magic, ...

and Carnival's Inspiration, all very fine boats in their own right.

Day 5 >