Rum Point Beach
Guido and I getting ready for our excursion
Along side our cruise ship Imagination
Leaving Imagination behind on our way out to George Town. Large ships can't dock in the harbor at George Town.
Sailing past a neighboring cruise ship floating off the coast of George Town
An unaltered picture of the gorgeous crystal blue waters of West Bay off the coast of George Town
An American ship docked in George Town
The Capital City of Grand Cayman Islands: George Town
A rather developed tourist city with a definite North American feel to it.
A nice little church in George Town
Me and my new shipmate friend Diane boating out to George Town in anticipation for our Cayman Island excursions.
Scraggly trees seeing us off as we head out toward Stingray City. I wonder if the trees were damaged by Hurricane Ivan in 2004?
Information on the Stingray excursion, as per the Carnival Cruise Line website
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Snorkel at the world famous Stingray Sandbar and have some fun-in-the-sun at Rum Point Beach. On this excursion you will:
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Rum Point Beach, scroll right --->>>
Rum Point Beach, scroll right --->>>
Above: Rum Point Beach
Info about Grand Cayman Islands on Wikipedia.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Cayman
| Grand Cayman
is the largest of the three
Cayman Islands at about 196 km² and contains the capital
George Town. Towns on the island are referred to as "districts". It is
located at . The island is a high-lying cow reef, with a highest elevation of roughly 400 meters above sea level. There is no natural fresh water (lakes, rivers, etc) on the island, so any fresh water needs must be met by catchments or desalination of seawater. The lack of rivers does however account for the exceptional clarity of the sea. The island was devastated by Hurricane Ivan in 2004 from September 11 to September 12. With Category 5 strength, Ivan passed within 30 miles of Grand Cayman, hitting it with winds over 180 mph (290 km/h) and gusts up to 200mph. The island reported no more than a few deaths - none directly caused by the hurricane - but over 80% of the buildings were either damaged or completely destroyed. Ivan was the worst hurricane to hit the island in 86 years. The eastern side of the island is somewhat undeveloped, while the western side of the island, which holds George Town and the airport, Owen Roberts International Airport, is more developed. Fast food restaurants, night clubs and resorts can be found on the western side of the island. The eastern districts offer more restaurants specializing in native Caymanian cuisine. |
Truly beautiful!
Me enjoying the soft beaches and clear blue water of Rum Point Beach
Me at the dock of Rum Point Beach
Enjoying a little piece of paradise on Grand Cayman Island
Great little cottages along the coast of Rum Point Beach
This scenery comes with a price though: many of the Island's structures were severely damaged and/or destroyed by Hurricane Ivan on September 11th-12th, 2004.
A funny sign posted at the local bar on the beach. Clearly, tourists ask more or less all the same questions!
A little friend watching me at Rum Point Beach
Me atop the Sundancer boat with the waters of the North Sound behind me
The beautiful waters of the North Sound near Stingray City
The Sundancer boat that took us from the main island out to the stingray sandbar.
A group of four stingrays swimming over toward the boat
Two stingrays as they swim by
The excursion group after they all jumped into the water. Time to play with the stingrays!
Me getting ready to jump into a watery stingray inflicted death
Guido not nearly as concerned!
Dropping anchor at Stingray City
Wading in the water as Jaws the stingray rapidly swims toward me
Underwater camera! Woo hoo! Me posing while a stingray swims by.
Such beautiful, graceful creatures.
A giant school of stingrays swimming among the legs of my fellow excursion mates
Below: interesting information from the great stingray page at Wikipedia.org
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stingray
| Dasyatidae is a family of
rays,
cartilaginous
marine
fishes,
related to
skates and
sharks. Dasyatids are common in tropical coastal waters throughout the world, and there are fresh water species in Asia (Himantura sp.), Africa, and Florida (Dasyatis sabina). Most dasyatids are neither threatened nor endangered. The species of the genera Potamotrygon, Paratrygon, and Plesiotrygon are all endemic to the freshwaters of South America. Dasyatids swim with a "flying" motion, propelled by motion of their large pectoral wings (commonly mistaken as "fins"). Their stinger is a razor-sharp, barbed, or serrated cartilaginous spine which grows from the ray's whip-like tail (like a fingernail), and can grow as long as 37 cm (about 14.6 inches). On the underside of the spine are two grooves containing venom-secreting glandular tissue. The entire spine is covered with a thin layer of skin called the integumentary sheath, in which venom is concentrated.[1] This gives them their common name of stingrays, but the name can also be used to refer to any poisonous ray. Some adult rays may be no larger than a human palm, while other species, like the short-tail stingray, may have a body of six feet in diameter, and an overall length, including their tail, of fourteen feet. Stringrays may also be called the whip-tailed rays though this usage is much less common. |
Holding a sting ray in Grand Cayman
Ahh. . . you see, sting rays are super docile and friendly despite their bad press recently.
If you don't taunt or threaten them, they don't taunt or threaten you. Seems like a fair exchange.
Such a fascinating animal! Note the stinger midway down its tail. DON'T TOUCH!
Our excursion leader lifting up a stingray and showing the bottom side of the animal, and the stingray does nothing.
Honestly, the bad press regarding lethality of stingrays because of the Crocodile Hunter's death has been WAY OVERBLOWN.
Advice: just don't threaten a stingray, don't step on it, and don't grab its stinger and you'll be fine.
Basically, the same advice is good too if you don't want to piss off a human!
Posing for the camera
Stingrays swimming around with their stingers minding their own business
The water at this point was about 4-5 feet / 1.5m deep.
Me and the beloved stingrays
Incoming!!! AAAAACK!!!
Eyeballs of a stingray
Space aliens flying through the blue
Guido, a stingray and the Caribbean
"Guido, point the camera up!" ;-}
A school of stingrays behind me
Just hanging out in the warm clear waters of Grand Cayman
Just swimming around waiting for the tourists to hand out some squid treats
Chummy stingrays swimming around at our feet.
The Sundancer
Despite the salt water in my eyes, I LOVE LIFE!!!
The Ship, Ocho Rios, Jamaica, Key West and Baiha Honda, Florida, Miami Beach, Florida
Caribbean Cruise / Megalinks Homesite
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