Cruise Vacation Day 6 - Cayman Islands

We woke up to the alarm at 7:45am and waited for breakfast. For some reason it didn’t come this morning, so we called room service and it seems they lost our order. So, we didn’t have time to make a new order so we had to “rough it” and eat breakfast at the buffet restaurant upstairs. We had a nice breakfast and then came upstairs to get ready for our scuba in Cayman Islands. Around 9am we were ready and we were in the terminal on our way to George Town via tender boats.

Once ashore, we had instructions to walk a bit and meet our scuba instructor in front of a church beside the Blue Iguana store. So we walked a bit and enjoyed looking at the shops and when we came across the church we laughed our heads off when we saw it was a Gospel Hall!!! So I took a picture of course. It was just a little quaint, church but was funnily located right in the middle of the hustle and bustle of the waterfront touristy area. Our tour guide was waiting for us and told us we were the only ones on the tour that day, so that was cool. He drove us to a marina where we were introduced to our diving instructor named Ivan whose nickname is Divin’ Ivan.


The Gospel Hall


After a quick safety briefing on how to use our equipment (it was our first time scuba diving!) and on how to handle stingrays we were off on the boat. The water in Cayman Islands is SO BLUE it is almost unbelievable! You can see right to the bottom of the ocean, just stunning. So, we were boating along and saw a bunch of fabulous homes on the water and HUGE lizards (like we’re talking 3-4 feet long) on people’s lawn. Once we got to the spot we were to dive, Ivan anchored the boat and then it was time to dive!

A couple beautiful homes we saw along the way





We sat on the end of the boat and Ivan attached a heavy weight belt around our waists, then put on our heavy vest with oxygen tank and our mask. Then we stood up and just stepped out into the water. There was some air in our vest so at first we were able to float and just bob around and practice our breathing with the oxygen. Once we were comfortable enough he asked us to let the air out of our vests (by pressing a button) and we literally just sank to the bottom! Once at the bottom we were to get onto our knees and enjoy the sites. WOW! There were beautiful fish and of course, sting rays. Cayman Islands is known for sting rays. The sting rays were like dogs and wanted to play with us, they would poke at us and go above us and below us, it was just an amazing experience. Ivan fed them squid to get them to come around us.

Some Scuba shots!








We were down for 45 minutes total and it went by so fast. I couldn’t believe I was underwater for that long. We were only about 10 ft below the surface as it was a “Discover Scuba” class so we couldn’t go lower than that. But Tim and I definitely now want to get certified at some point…..the experience is just incredible. While we were down there we also saw a big green SCARY eel that made me scream, a barracuda, hermit crabs, and a bunch of other things. SOOOO cool, I still can’t believe we did that! Once we were done, we came to the surface, Ivan helped us onto the boat and took our stuff off and we headed back to the marina, then back to the boat.

Tim with Divin' Ivan



Us after the dive



Once in town we did a bit of shopping, we found a USB cable for my underwater camera, so that was exciting. We also took a shot of our ship (Liberty of the Seas) from the waterfront. We then headed back to the ship via tenders for a shower and a late lunch. We were so hungry from our swim!

Liberty of The Seas - our ship


After lunch we had a couples massage and “float” booked. So we went to the spa where we both got a 25 minute massage and a 25 minute float. A float is a bed that engulfs you in water, but you don’t actually get wet! It’s like a big blanket of water……very cool and very relaxing. This masseuse told me the same thing as the last which is that I'm very "knoty" and that I should get regular massages. My back was literally crunching. It was wonderful, though, to be pampered like that! We were so relaxed after our spa visit we headed back to the room where I attempted to read but I was fading fast and fell asleep way too late in the day (it was about 5pm!) so now I’m worried about not falling asleep tonight. While I was reading/napping Tim went to do his usual sports thing on the basketball court. When he came back I woke up and we started getting ready for dinner. Tonight is another formal night, and after dinner we don’t have anything planned (dinner ends past 10pm anyway), so we’re just going to relax a bit, maybe do some late night mini-golf, and head to bed at a decent hour as we’ll be out in the sun all day tomorrow in Cozumel where we will be snorkeling various reefs!


Us before dinner - darn closed eyes!