On a normal day, the ships anchor just off Georgetown, the main city on Grand Caymen. However, when we were there, there was a stiff wind coming from the west, and the port authorities directed us instead to Spotts Bay, about 10 miles east of Georgetown and on the leeward side of the island. Since we got there before the two Carnival ships, we got the spot closest to the shore.
Here, we also took a shore excursion. This excursion consisted of a semi-submersible voyage followed by a bus trip to the turtle farm and Hell. On the way back, the bus driver let us off in Georgetown, where we did some shopping.
The semi-submersible is actually a variation on the glass-bottom boat. It is a boat, but it has a deep hull with side windows, which places your viewpoint about 4 feet below the surface. I took pictures here but they didn't come out too good due to the coloration of the water. There were no shipwrecks here but the fish were pretty, and we saw a barracuda and several squid.
The turtle farm was great - they had turtles of all sizes, complete with multiple pools and a beach they can lay their eggs on. The turtle in this picture is about 5 feet long and undoubtedly weighs more than I do.
The turtles don't seem to mind being stared at, and seem to enjoy watching us watch them. There was also a pool of small turtles (less than a foot long) that we could pick up and visit with.
I always wondered, though...shouldn't it be called a turtle ranch rather than a farm?
Hell is an interesting rock formation, covering several acres, that is somewhat over rated. The main attraction is not Hell itself, but rather the post office, where you can send postcards from Hell. Unfortunately, due to the tour running a few minutes late, we only had about 10 minutes to buy and address a few postcards.
In Georgetown, there is plenty of duty-free shopping but it seemed the prices were not as good as in Ocho Rios. I did buy a pair of nice binoculars, a bunch of rum cakes, and a few more bottles of rum. One thing I'd like to have bought for my father is one of the coins from the shipwreck Atocha, but the cheapest one I found was $220. It did come with a certificate of authenticity, signed by the man who discovered the wreck. Other items seemed overpriced compared to Ocho Rios. A taxi back to the bay was only $2.
The Princess crew had things running better than did the Carnival crew. When we arrived back at the bay, there was a huge line of people for the tenders. Fortunately, that was the line for the Carnival ships...the Princess had no line at all, and we were aboard the tender and heading for the ship within minutes.
Since this was both our 20th anniversary present to ourselves and the honeymoon we never had, we decided to renew our vows. This was done in the evening before dinner, and we were remarried by the Captain himself.
Copyright © 2008 by Dana Cline
Last updated on 7/8/2008
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