Day Four of "The Boat Trip"---- Cayman Islands with Turtles and Dolphins!

The day of our Cayman Island adventure dawned hot and humid. Pa opted to wear a baby blue polo style shirt. It looked a lot like the uniform worn by the Lido staff. Pa went up to the Lido deck to get some water and fruit loops for our adventure. Matt and Liam followed to fill up their water bottles. Pa came back highly irritated claiming some Texan joker had been irritating him. Since Matt came in  red faced and laughing I realized he meant Matt. Apparently Matt had come up behind him and asked him for a refill on his drink claiming he thought he was a waiter. Then to Pa's annoyance a passing waiter said in a heavily accented voice, "Hey he does look like us! Wait, your shirt is not tucked in that's a demerit, you aren't wearing the right shoes  that's a demerit, and your shorts aren't regulation that's another demerit. Uh-oh now you get kicked off the boat."

One of the first things we noticed as we pulled into port was how flat and low the Cayman Island sat compared to the more rocky and textured Jamaica.Unlike the other ports you can't pull the ship into the harbor at the Cayman Islands. Everyone boards onto little ferry's that take you to the port. Sitting and waiting on the poorly shaded ferry was a warm and sticky business. We were all a little pink from the beach the previous day which made it a little more uncomfortable. As we sat on rock hard blocks in the humid sunny heat we did notice something that helped distract the kids. Not that far away was a really awesome full scale pirate boat flying the jolly roger. We did overhear some condescending nasal voiced middle aged man explaining to his ten year old son that he "shouldn't assume every boat is a pirate boat". I wanted to point out that the jolly roger on the mast made it less of an assumption; especially when seeing the downcast face of the kid.

Once we made port and got off the ferry we immediately noticed a big difference between the Cayman Islands and Jamaica. Jamaica presented as a tin shed struggling tourist shop; the Cayman Islands was obviously much more prosperous with cute shops and stalls. My sunburn was still bothering me so I bought a really large brimmed hat. Apparently it was national pirate day; every tour guide and pamphlet announced it...what difference it made...I'm not really sure. Why we would celebrate pirates...also not sure.

The kids were really excited to get off and explore the port. They were well aware that this was the day that we were going to meet some dolphins and sea turtles.

We joined our tour group and got on a blessedly air conditioned tour bus. We drove (on the wrong side of the road) down to the turtle and dolphin area. On the way we learned that the Cayman Islands are still part of the UK and currently have the first ever woman appointed as their governor. We also found out that condos on the famous seven mile beach go for 2.5-7 million dollars. While the tour guide pointed out the banks; Matt asked about those famous American accounts where you hide your illicit money...the tour guide opted to ignore him.

Liam was the first to notice the large Iguanas running around. The Iguanas rapidly became a favorite animal of the boys to point out. Miles insisted on calling them "M'guanas".Going to the sea turtle farm was pretty fun. We got to see the giant adult sea turtles, the hatching area, the young adults, and then in the baby section we got to hold the sea turtles.

Ian stayed with Grandma Jamie as her buddy and she carefully escorted him around to admire all the tanks with the really giant sea turtles in them. We were warned by the staff not to try and touch the adult ones as they can and will bite fingers...potentially off. Ian wary of losing his fingers was happy to keep them out of harms way.

Miles and Liam, who were buddies with Matt and I were not quite so concerned. By the time we got to the baby sea turtles I was feeling frazzled, and really ready to let Miles and Liam get some hands on time.

The result was instant and spontaneous smiles. Ian and Liam could not get enough of holding baby sea turtles. They liked that they could hold them, that they were smooth, and that they wiggled like crazy. It's surprisingly hard to hold onto those turtles and even harder to catch the sneaky little buggers. I kept bumping my pregnant belly as I tried to grab fast darting baby sea turtles. The baby strongly objected and then would repeatedly kick me.

At one point I tried to set a baby sea turtle down so Miles could just pet it. It turns out when you do that the turtle makes a mad dash back into the water, lesson learned.

They actually had a wading pool that older kids could get into and walk around with the baby sea turtles. Matt waded in with Liam and Ian.

This was a huge highlight for the older boys. Miles was devastated that he was not allowed to get in (he was too little). I took him over and attempted to catch another sea turtle for him in a different pond.

After thoroughly washing up we walked back out to wait for our tour group to head over to our dolphin encounter.

We weren't allowed to take pictures during the dolphin encounter. You had to purchase pictures from the company. These were thirty five dollars a picture for a 5x7. As a result Liam, Ian and Miles each got one picture purchased by a doting Grandma Jamie. I refused to spend that much money on a sub-par snap shot. However I did take a picture of the pictures that Grandma Jamie bought with my camera and posted them on our blog.

Liam was desperate to swim with the dolphins. Since this was an encounter you got to have the dolphin jump to your hand, shake his fins, and give him a kiss, but no swimming. The trainer also let the kids feed the dolphin a fish, and they repeatedly got to touch the dolphin. The encounter was built on the ocean and ocean water fed the tanks. As a result there were some random tropical fish in the tank. Liam kept trying to stomp on the them. Other than keeping a restraining hand on him to prevent him from swimming off with the dolphins Liam was pretty compliant with the rules and really enjoyed his encounter.

Miles was the wiggle king. He was thrilled when he realized he could float with his life jacket and kept insisting that Matt let him go because he could float without help. Thanks to Miles cuteness the trainer actually let him feed the dolphin two fish. Instead of kissing the dolphin once like you were supposed to, Miles repeatedly kissed the dolphin about fifty times.

Ian was more cautious then his brothers. He didn't really think his life jacket would make him float, he was afraid of touching the dolphin and clung to grandma Jamie like a little barnacle. With his legs tightly wrapped around Grandma Jamie's and my hands guiding his, he was persuaded to do all the dolphin tricks. He even kissed the dolphin and fed it a fish without help. By the end this had become a favorite and memorable activity for Ian.

We were all pretty hungry after the dolphin encounter and other than an overpriced food stand there weren't a lot of options. I bought a plate of nachos thinking that at home nachos are something all the boys eat. When I brought them to the table Ian began weeping. Apparently the fact that these nachos had actual cheese melted over them instead of liquid nacho cheese was too big a deterrent for him to overcome. Ian refused to eat any. Liam and Miles were less picky.

We headed back to the cruise ship. Miles fell asleep on the bus ride back. Matt carried him around the port as we grabbed a Christmas tree made of shells and a sea turtle magnet. Once on the cruise ship we ordered some room service so we could relax in our room. Later after dinner we found a cute frog towel waiting for us on our bed. We were having such a wonderful time it was a little sad to think that the next day would bring our last shore excursion before heading back home.