Back To Stingray City . . .

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Every week I always offer a teen tour as part of my program. A chance for the teens to do an excursion in one of the ports with other friends from the ship, supervised by me and no parents. I’ve run plenty in the past, but I just haven’t had teens sign up for any tours here on the Liberty. Until this week. It worked out quite well actually, seeing as my replacement (Vanessa) is here; she’s a new director, being trained by me and so we got to actually do a tour instead of just talking about it.

We’re in Grand Cayman and this week we offered the chance to go snorkeling on a coral reef and with the stingrays. Five teens signed up to join us. And we had such a great time!

We met in the morning. I was tired. Extremely tired. I’m generally feeling completely drained these days, so cutting into my sleep does not help. But we met, took the tender boat to shore and were off on our tour.

Our first stop was “Stingray City”, the sand bar off the North shore of the island where anywhere from 40-100 stingrays appear every day. I’d been there before, last year and again this past March with Mom and Lee. But the stingrays are so gentle, so fun, so magical, I still loved it. And this time, watching the teens experience them for the first time was extra fun!

I just swam along, looking underwater, watching the stingrays swim all around me. We got to feed the stingrays pieces of squid. You just hold your hand underwater and the stingrays smell the squid, swim over, hover above your hand, then - VOOM! - they suck the squid up. It feels like a vacuum sucking something out of your hand. Everyone squeals like little kids. And the guides help you hold the stingrays. They lie on your back (“giving you a massage”), you hold them in your arms, you give them kisses. I could do it again and again and again, they’re just so much fun! This time, I also got to hold a baby stingray. One of the guides scooped her up and then put her in my hands. She was so little and cute!

After Stingray City, we were taken to the Coral Gardens, an area not too far away. There we snorkeled along, looking at the various fish and coral. The guides gave us more squid, this time for the fish. The fish would swarm all around you pulling and tearing at the food. And with your mask, you could look under the water and watch them all around. I don’t think I’ll ever tire of this!

My last day in Grand Cayman. It was a nice way to spend it, exploring the waters around the island.

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