Sting Ray City
December 30th, 2006

On Saturday afternoon we took a tour with Red Sail Sports to Sting Ray City - A place where you can go and swim, touch and even feed sting rays. The area they're in used to be used by fisherman as an area to gut and clean their catch, and they simply tossed the fish remains overboard. The rays quickly learned to go there for an easy meal, and have been frequenting the area ever since. They are totally domesticated and are very used to people.


The view as we sailed away from shore...


Steph watching the waves as we head out.


Tony and the mast of our ship, called The Spirit of Poseidon.


Me, Kyle, Tony, Diane and Ian on the boat.


Me on the boat.


In the water! It was amazing!! Tony, Diane, Ian, Kyle and I all got in the water while Steph stayed aboard with the cameras. The sting rays were very hard to get used to - your instinct is to get away from them, not to touch them. But once you get used to them around, it's really quite the experience. They feel soft and slimy like a wet mushroom, and when you feed them, they suck the food out of your hand like a vacuum, and you can really feel the power of their suction. It's bizarre, but so amazing!


They opened up the bar on the way home, so we sailed back and had some rum punch.
Sting Ray City is an amazing place, and I will never forget it!

Welcome to Grand Cayman
Day one - December 29th, 2006

Kyle and I arrived on Grand Cayman on December 29th. We left Toronto at 6:30am, and had couple hour stop-over in Miami on the way. Stephanie met us at the airport and said that she was taking us to a Turtle Farm on the island.

Kyle is excited about the Turtle Farm, can you tell? Behind him, Stephanie (his sister), Ian (her husband), Tony and Diane (Ian's parents, visiting for Christmas) watch the Turtles swimming.

Steph and Ian look at the Kemp Ridely's Turtles...

... They are the most endangered species of turtle in the entire world.

This is the main house at the Turtle Farm. Note the garland on the poles. There were huge wreaths on the front doors, too.

Turtles!

More turtles! They were so colourful!

Steph and Kyle decided that the sidewalk is for suckers.

He was impressed with the Turtle Farm.

I was too! I'm so excited to be in Cayman!

After the Turtle Farm, we went to a small beach to look for shells. This guy came riding by while we walked.

There was so much junk on the beach (like this green giraffe head) that washes up on the beach. The majority of the garbage come from the visiting cruise ships - things that fall overboard end up here.

Our first day on Grand Cayman was absolutely fabulous. Exhausting, but fabulous.
Stay tuned! There are more pictures to come!

Happy New Year's Everyone! :)