We had a late start to the day. The ship was not scheduled to get to port until 12:30 so first things first, we headed down at 10:45 and had some breakfast, yum!
After breakfast and full bellies it was back to our cabin to get ready for the day. We were scheduled for snorkeling in a coral reef and swimming with the stingrays after at a small white sand beach on the other side of the island, well not completely on the other side, more up and around the islands point called Gibbs Cay Island.
Unfortunately the weather was pretty nasty last night from St. Thomas to Grand Turk and was still a little windy with rough water at Grand Turk so it was deemed "too dangerous" to snorkel in that area due to strong ocean currents.
So last minute we had to switch our excursion to another. With only 3 to choose from we chose basically the exact same adventure but on another island we think was called Horseback Island.
Off the ship, on the gangway and down to the pier at 1:30 to get ready for our excursion. Around 1:50 everything was a go. We followed our 4 tour guides down to the small pier and boarded the boat and away we went.
First stop, instructions on the snorkel equipment. Shortly after instruction we were jumping off the boat into the water one-by-one to look at fish, coral and other sea life. There was even a big lobster in his cave in the coral. Unfortunately you had to dive down pretty far to see it so I opted to not try it this trip. Awesome views of the ocean life and coral, I could have snorkeled around out there all day.
About 40 minutes later the whistle blew and it was back onto the boat and off to the beach to swim with the stingrays! Sweet, I can't wait, I have been anticipating this part of the trip for months.
Ok first off, the rays are so friggin' awesome and gentle. Cicely and I held one together, kissed it, kissed his (or her) tail which is said to bring 7 years good luck! Last but not least we had what they call a "stingray massage" where the ray is up over your head and on your back, it's so cool. I was surprised, they are much heavier than you might think.
We swam around a bit while others played in the water, collected sea shells or waited to pet the stingrays.
Cicely was asked if she wanted to feed fish to a stingray. Without any hesitation she accepted the offer. I guess the trick is to tuck your thumb so they dont grab it unintentionally. "They sort of suck up the fish like a vacuum does dust", was the way Cicely described it to me. Such cool creatures, I just cant emphasis that enough.
The whistle blew and within minutes all 40 of us were back on the boat and heading back to port.
Once back at port we tipped the guides $20 and headed in to do a little shopping to get our magnet and a shirt for me. We found me a shirt no problem at Piraña Joe's, but by now we were starving so a magnet would have to wait.
We walked over to the beach so I could get my vile of sand since it was on the way. Then we walked over to Jimmy Buffets Margaritaville restaurant. We ended up ordering this giant tin of nacho's for us both to share and a margarita each.
No joke, this tin of nachos was probably 12" diameter and 4" deep. I dont have any photos of it, only a quick video because it was dark so the photo would have been bad and honestly I was way too hungry to patiently take a photo in poor lighting. It's crazy that 2 margaritas, nachos and tip were just over $60 though.
Since we were short on time, (we only had about 6 hours at Grand Turk, booo!) Cicely ran over to the gift shop and grabbed us a cool magnet while I was waiting for our nacho's. She was back right as the food hit the table and had picked out a perfect magnet to add to our collection!
Finished our nachos and margaritas and headed back over to the pier where the snorkel boat originally dropped us off so we could check out our photos from the stingray adventure.
We liked almost all of them, but settled on 4 that we liked the most. They are really cool shots and for the price ($36) who could pass it up. They were given to us on disc so we can make as many copies as we want. The only downside is that we got eaten up by mosquitos while waiting. Mostly Cicely did, I think I only got one or two bites but she has them on her arm, face, legs and neck. I guess it was enough that I was bit by something in the ocean in St. Maarten so the Universe was giving me a break today. If you did not read that post you are prolly not sure what I am talking about.
Photos purchased. Next we headed back to the main pier and its huge shop that was all Duty Free and named accordingly "Dufry" pronounced "doo-free". I did not find anything I wanted other than this $1900 bottle of Remi Martin booze, only because I wanted to try it, no I didn't buy it are you kidding me. I am still saving for that TAG Heuer watch I want and keep seeing on every cruise that is $6,100, "but special price today $5,800".
I did get Cicely a new bottle of her Burberry Brit perfume, she loves the stuff. I could not pass it up for $85 for the par-fume, just $9 more than the eua-de-toilet one. She loves it and I like the way it smells on her. I sprayed some of the mens Burberry Brit on my shirt, it smells nice also but I dont want to start wearing cologne so I passed on a bottle for myself.
Done shopping and back at the ships gangway
We are now in route to Florida and will be at sea all day tomorrow. It's just under 584 nautical miles and we are traveling 17.13 knots.
We skipped dinner tonight at 8:15 because we were still full from our massive nacho's and margaritas. Plus I had a beer when we got back to our stateroom as I do every night while the ship departs. We may swing down to the buffet for a snack though at some point. I need to be careful, seems I have gained 2 to 5 pounds this trip, I sure hope not!
I cant believe the vacation is almost over, it seemed like we had so long to go as of last Monday and here we are basically heading home already. I wish we could have made the stop at Princess Cays, maybe another time. I want to travel so much more, it's extremely addicting, I can't describe it with words.
There is so much I want to see. I would even like to go to Europe as well at some point even though its not a huge bucket list item for me I think its a good one to visit. Croatia, Alaska, Dominican Republic even Hawaii and others would be amazing to experience as well. If we have a child I dunno what the cards will hold for travel. Either time with grandparents or we take him / her with us depending on their age.
Soon enough it will be back to the grind, long hours and busy days and I will wish my biggest decisions were similar to those I have had on this trip. Seafood or steak for dinner, which restaurant and how many beers to have on the beach.
Until next time, thank you for the amazing memories Grand Turk, the island of only 4,800 people. Your island is amazing, thank you for sharing a little of it with me today.
"Stingray, a bold name for such a gentle creature". -Curt Baker 2012
Photo: What I'm coining "Chair Beach"
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