Thread: Live From Mariner of the Seas- 10/19/08

Great you are having a blast.

James Bond Pier -- HAL docks there all the time.

Ocho Rios -- we did the Dunn's River Falls years and years ago -- there only about 20 of us -- no conga line.

Love the pictures.

Nice....

Can't wait to hear about today's schedule.

No report yet huh, she mush be having a really good time!!!!

[quote=MD11F;1217437][quote]On the way, our driver followed the traditional Jamaican tour monologue... he taught us the 3 most important sayings in Jamaica, ,Arie Ya Mon & No Problem.

Sonya, that word is "Irie" dear . Gotta talk like a true Rasta, girl.

Yum, Callaloo? I love Ackee and Saltfish. We get Jerk Chicken here all the time as there are many Jamaican restaurants here in Broward County(Ft Lauderdale).

Well, you're having a blast, continue to enjoy your week.

Thanks Ken. Gotta get it right.

I love greens, rice & peas and curry. But I also love Saltfish & Bake for breakfast
No jerk back home but the jerk I live with

Originally Posted by stanford's girl

Too funny, Sonja!!!

Did you really mean that you get all that yummy hot breakfast food on the room service menu too?

The pictures of the Falls are really beautiful and you and Earl look so relaxed. And having lunch with your guide sounds like it was a really good time.

Can't wait to hear all about the deck dancing party you went to tonight!!!

Janice, I'll post a copy of the room service menu for you at some point, it's fairly large and the warm food is a nice touch.

Rain!! When we woke this morning, still groggy from our very late night, it was overcast and rainy. Earl and I ended up hanging out last night in the connoisseur’s lounge until almost 1am and then ran up to the pool deck to see what was left of the night’s buffet. There wasn’t anything there but some music and drunk people dancing, so we sat on the upper deck and watched a Carnival ship sailing parallel to us in the distance. Eventually we went to bed but we didn’t have many hours to sleep. Ship time is an hour ahead of all stops on this cruise, which meant my 10:30am excursion today was really at 9:30 shore time. We had to wake early to get ready.

We had breakfast in the dining room this morning again. The menu was the same as before but the chef’s special today was a mexican omelet instead of chocolate chip pancakes like before. I had eggs benedict which were very good. Earl ordered a single scrambled egg and some toast but once our food arrived, decided he shouldn’t push his stomach just yet.

Upon good advice received here on CLF, I decided to book us an excursion with Native Way. This turned out to be an excellent choice.

We caught a tender on shore, met with our tour guide and then had about 45 minutes to shop before departing. The rain had subsided to a slight drizzle and the temperature was still warm & humid, but it wasn’t long before the thunder & lightning rolled in and the rain came down in sheets. It was funny to watch the crowd disperse so quickly under the tarps and canopies of the newly developed embarkation platform. I was told that not that long ago the area where you detender was just a pier on the beach. Now there is a huge development with shops and a large area for ship tours to meet. This was especially nice today as we were anchored with the Carnival Conquest today.

We decided to do the sting ray part of our tour first, since we weren’t sure what the weather would be doing to us today. There were just 4 of us in our group, Earl and myself and a really fun couple from North Carolina. Our entire tour was very intimate because of this, the ratio of guides to tourists was 4:3.

We quickly jogged from the tour gathering area to our bus and drove about 10 minutes to the yacht club where we took a boat out to Sting Ray city. The ride by boat is about 25 minutes, just enough time to go through some safety instructions, learn a bit about the sting rays and sign what I call the “Steve Irwin disclaimer”. We were lucky that the weather was so testy this morning. It seems many of the tours felt the weather would pick up later (which it did) and opted to do their sting ray portion later in the day. This meant the number of people gathered on the sand bar was minimal compared to some photos that I’ve seen. There were perhaps 5 boats including ours during the time of our swim.

As we arrived, the thunder stopped, the rain went away and the sun tried to peak through the clouds. The four of us hopped out into the water and waited near another group while our guides caught a large female stingray for us to hold and kiss. I had recently purchased a water proof case for my my aging Canon PowerShot S70, which worked like a dream. I was able to take lots of underwater shots and also protect my camera when the rain came back.

The stingrays are very curious and friendly. As we were standing on the sandbar the kept swimming by and rubbing up against our legs. They also have a very keen sense of smell. Once we pulled out the calamari to feed our stingray, many others started swimming by. One stole the food right out of my hand and sucked up my pointer finger in the process. The suction is strong and as she “bit” down the pressure was strong on my finger. I still have a bit of a bruise but nothing terrible.

After lots of time to swim and play with the rays, we got back onto our boat and headed back to land. Our tour guides told us all about the island and the people. We had a long discussion about Hurricane Ivan, which devastated the island back in 2004. This is the same storm that destroyed Grenada just 2 weeks after Earl and I came back from getting married there. The thing that was so damaging for the Caymans, is the fact that the islands are so flat. The entire island is about 3 feet above sea level, which means the smallest storm surge floods the entire island.

We enjoyed the weather as we tried to wash off the extra salty water and dry off. Earl went up above and drove the boat back to the yacht club.



Then we went down to look at the local homes there in the club and take a few pictures of the local “alligators” for which the Caymans are so famously named for. The are, in actuality, iguanas.

Anyone want to buy me a house? It's in the yacht club and only costs about 8 Million.



Once back at the pier, we boarded our bus and started the land portion of our tour. We went to the turtle farm where we all tried some turtle soup (even Earl, who was hungry by this point) and did a tour if the facilities in our small group. We all held turtles and took pictures before perusing the gift shop and making our way to the Tortuga Rum Cake factory and then Hell, all the while seeing and learning about the islands.



Once back at the ship, Earl went back to the ship for a nap and I did a little shopping before catching one of the last tenders back to the ship.

I dropped off my bags and went above to try to capture a panoramic shot of Grand Cayman.


Just at this moment, Captain Johnny pulled us out of port early, so as to try and avoid an incoming storm. This turned out to be in vain however. As I wandered aft toward the Windjammer for some lunch, I could see a sheet of rain coming towards us. It was very pronounced and as I commented on it, there was an aftershock of people following my, rushing to get indoors before the rain came. It was funny because so many people had been relaxing in loungers and suddenly jumped up to follow. Like I was the pied piper or something.

I had a small salad and quarter of a sandwich and then headed back to the room for a 2 hour nap.