Stingray City

As soon as we booked our trip to Grand Cayman, I knew that we had to take an excursion to sting ray city. I have always heard about it because that is one of the things that island is known for. And I was so excited because now both of the girls are actually old enough to go with us! Sophie was even free, which makes it even better :)

 

We booked a half day tour one afternoon. A boat picked us up in the harbor, right by our hotel room:

 

 

First stop, snorkeling in the middle of the ocean where it was beautiful:

 

 

Sophie stayed on the boat with Bryan while I took Sadie. She still gets a little scared out in the middle of the ocean & has a hard time snorkeling with their mask. And it is even harder for me since I did not have a life jacket on & she was climbing all over me. Eventually, she got tired of trying so I took her back on the boat so I could switch with Bryan. This time, Sadie decided she just wanted to jump in & swim & she had more fun without the gear:

 

 

Eventually Bryan jumped in & he snorkeled while she swam:

 

 

Next stop, Stingray City:

 

 

I did not do any research so I kind of figured we were going to some museum that had a natural habitat - kind of like I have experience before when we swam with dolphins. I had no idea that sting ray city was literally a sand bar out in the middle of the ocean! It is kind of crazy how these boats anchor & then there are people walking around in the middle of the ocean & all of the sting rays just come up to you. Granted, these tour guides have been doing this for years so they know how to act, what to feed them, etc. Somehow we got all 4 of us in the water:

 

 

Bryan & I actually held one:

 

 

That girl in the picture with them was our boat captain & tour guide & she was great! Especially with the girls. She even convinced the girls to kiss a stingray because tradition is if you kiss one, you get 7 years good luck:

 

 

At first Sadie tried to blow it a kiss but we eventually talked her into really kissing it! Let me tell you, that was a pretty cool experience & I imagine we will do it again some time when the girls are older.

 

Finally, we went to starfish point, which was located at the end of a peninsula. We anchored right off the beach & it was shallow water so both of the girls got out & splashed around. Everyone was brave enough to pick up the starfish also:

 

 

Finally we loaded up & headed back to our hotel after a long afternoon. I was so proud of the girls for being so brave on our excursion! I really look forward to talking about these memories in the years to come & then going to all these same places when they are older & doing it again :)