My Souvenir Memories: Carnival Legend

Grand Cayman

I don’t want this to be taken in the wrong way…but I don’t really care for Grand Cayman. I know I am on a cruise in the Caribbean…to me that is paradise…but when compared with our other ports, Grand Cayman comes up short.

The two girls were the only ones who had not visited Grand Cayman previously. I suggested we do a tour to see the stingrays (even though I have done the tour twice already)…because that is just what you do when you are in Grand Cayman! I didn’t want them to miss out on something that is so unique to the island. BUT…neither of them wanted to go nor did the guys. Jane, my sister, had also done the stingray thing 2 times so she was open to new ideas.

Bob and Zach are both certified scuba divers. The last time we visited Grand Cayman they did a shore dive at Eden Rock. This time they wanted to do a boat dive and took the easy way and booked through Carnival. Not being with them I can only pass along that they had a great dive and were well pleased.

So…what could the other six of us do? Before the cruise we took the kids to a dive shop and got them all nice snorkel equipment. We have learned the hard way that snorkeling with cheap equipment means you won’t enjoy snorkeling. Since Eden Rock is such a short walk from the ship I suggested just snorkeling on our own. A cheap plan and one that we could do on our own time schedule.

The morning we arrived in Grand Cayman we had breakfast in the dining room since there was no rush to get off the ship. By the time we had finished eating, it was easy to just hop on the tender and go to shore.

The girls wanted to do a little bit of shopping. The last time we were here Tim almost had a “meltdown” due to the heat so I was a bit surprised that he was willing to wander in and out of the shops. (Just goes to show how love will make you do strange things!)

Jane and I weren’t interested in shopping so we split up and told the kids to meet us at Paradise Restaurant at Eden Rock.

We sat for awhile at one of the outdoor tables, and although no one said anything, I think they expected us to order something (which is totally understandable.)

Since we weren’t really wanting anything to eat or drink at this point, we walked over to the lounge chairs set up in a patch of sand. Once we left the shaded area of the restaurant it was HOT. Jane and I decided to go ahead and get in the water and do some snorkeling while we waited on the kids to show up.

As I started to get in the water an employee came running up and said “You MUST wear a snorkel vest.” Rats. I hate snorkel vests. I’m not sure that he really had the authority to MAKE me wear the vest, but I didn’t want a confrontation so we each spent $5 to rent a vest.

There were stairs to enter the water…and right by the stairs were about a half dozen HUGE tarpons. The guy that had talked to me was feeding these fish so they were staying close to get a free meal. I am not exaggerating…the fish were over 3 feet long!!

Eventually the kids showed up and we rented vests for everyone (so much for our “free” day of snorkeling!) Wearing the vests was the main reason that we didn’t have much fun. The stupid things ride up under your neck while at the same time giving you a major “wedgie”.

I am blessed with natural buoyancy (fat) and find it very easy to float, even when not wearing a vest. Without the vests we would have stayed longer and definitely had more fun.

Erica was terrified of the big fish and wasn’t sure she was even going to get in the water. Eventually Time convinced her to get on his back and he would swim out past the fish…what a funny sight that was! Eventually she did relax and have fun. This was her first time snorkeling!

Matt and Marji were a little more experienced.

In theory our plan was a good one…but in the end we didn’t stay as long as we had planned…and we spent $30 renting the vests. The snorkeling was pretty good…but we just got tired of fighting the life vests and decided to head back to the ship. I guess the positive was that by not waiting until the last minute we didn’t have any wait to get on the tender.

Here are a couple of the photos I took that day. I got a Canon D10 camera last summer and absolutely love it for snorkeling. It also does underwater videos! (And it is a great camera on dry land as well!)