Tuesday February 22,2011. Today is Kim's 52nd birthday and we have lots planned for her. Excuse the late post as internet access in central america area is not great, but I am trying to upload as much as possible. Pictures are proving to be a real problem to upload.
Tuesday morning started off early as we had to catch a tender ship to shore at 7:15 a.m. Today Roger, Kim and Shelia are going ashore in Grand Cayman to swim with the dolphins and a stingray swim also.
We arrived at the Dolphin City at 8:30 a.m. They quickly sorted all of the people into groups. Blue group was those that would be swimming with the dolphins in a sectioned off area. The literature stated that you must be able to swim to do this excursion, but little did we know that you would have to SWIM!! We had to dive off of the dock and swim approximately the length of 3 football fields over to OUR dolphins habitat. Once we had arrived in that area we were introduced to our 2 dolphins Luna and Lucea. They were beautiful. They then divided our group of 10 into a family of 7 and the 3 of us. Now realize that all this time we are treading water.
We were able to do so many things during the dolphin swim. We had a singing time with the dolphins when they sang to us and then we sang and they danced for us while we circled around them. Then some of us were told to swim approximately half way back to the dock so that the dolphin could come bring us back on our ride. What fun!! We held onto their fins and they brought each one of us back to their dock. Then we got our dolphin kiss.....and if you did not kiss them good enough they would splash you with water until you did! The dolphins did a show for us while we were in the water also, jumps, tricks, fetching things etc. We had lots of time to pet the dolphins, their tummy was so soft and slick. KIM HAD A BLAST!! Roger and I also throughly enjoyed the hour in the water with the dolphins. We told the trainer that it was Kim's birthday and she got extra time with the dolphin Lucea. She just kackled. Haven't seen her frown at all this trip.
After we completed our fun with the dolphins we got to swim back to the shore.......yes the whole way back. Great exercise though.
We then boarded a boat to take us out to sea for our stingray adventure. I thought it would be at the shore where they would come up......oh no. we rode 35 minutes out to sea and then the captain (who appeared to have been smoking some wachy weed) instructed us to jump off the side of the boat and swim out to where the stingrays were. Now just know that there is NO LAND anywhere in sight we are in the middle of the ocean. Then the snockered captain states that the side of the boat is about 25 feet deep, but you can go down the ladder on the front of the boat and it is only waist deep there. We three opted for the later choice.
The stingrays were awesome. I have never seen a stingray up close so it was amazing. We got to play with the rays, some were over 4 foot span and we even had some tiny baby rays there. They were in their natural environment which was wonderful. I got a back massage from a large ray, was able to hold and kiss one and even feed one. Kim had a blast holding the rays and playing with them. We were in the water almost an hour with the rays.
After the stingray adventure we headed back to the dolphin cove by boat. We were able to buy our pictures of the dolphin and stingray adventures. It was a wonderful day.
After we returned to the ship we had arranged for them to decorate Kim's room for her birthday while we were gone. She was like a little kid when we arrived. They had decorated with streamers and signs with Happy Birthday. What an awesome way for her to be greated back on ship. We had more surprises for her later. We spent more time exploring all there is to do on the cruise ship before getting ready for our dinner.
At dinner we had another wonderful meal. Kim ate Mahi Mahi and Roger kept telling her that it was dolphin. The waiter even kept it going when he sat her plate down and said "Miss Kim I hope you enjoy your dolphin" We all just hooted!!
After all the food at dinner I had arranged for Kim to get a birthday cake. Our waiter Edsel and all of the wait staff brought the beautiful cake and had everyone in the private dinning room sing happy birthday to kim. When Edsel served the cake he made sure to give Kim the piece with her name on it. She had a blast.
After dinner we had some marguaritas up on the serenity deck......adults only.....no children.......it was so quiet.
Kim said that this was the best birthday she's ever had. Made it all worth wild for us. Just in case you are wondering......we really are not missing work....hehehehehe
Shelia
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