Cruise Vacation

Val and I just got back from our first cruise vacation. We departed from Miami, made a stop at Key West and then onto Grand Cayman Island. I think I was the only person in Ohio that had never been to Florida but now I can cross that off my list.

(Below) Departing Miami

Key West

After arriving in Key West we quickly realized there are really only two things to do there, shop or drink...we choose the latter and decided we would do our very own "Pub Crawl".

(Below) I thought this was an interesting statue, however I still don't know what it is...

(Below) The "Pub Crawl"..... (Click for larger image)

(Below) ....and the post effects of the "Pub Crawl"

(Below) After leavign Key West we got to watch the sunset from one side of our ship and then the moon rise from the other side of the ship.

Grand Cayman Island

After porting offshore of Grand Cayman Island we took a smaller boat to the island. We didn't have time to do everything we wanted but it was still a very interesting place. Hopefully we will get to visit the island again and have more time to explore.

(Below) First stop, Seven Mile beach

(Below) Next stop was the Boatswain Turtle Farm. Sea Turtles are the main source of food for the locals, it may seam sad but I guess it is no different than raising cattle in the United States.

(Below) Then we went to Hell...well a small town named Hell because of the unusual rock formations there.

(Below) The aforementioned rock formations

(Below) A couple of iguanas sunbathing in "Hell"

(Below) Our last stop of the day was Stingray City where we took a 30 minute boat ride to a sandbar in the ocean to swim with wild stingrays. They ranged in size from 1 foot to 6 feet in diameter but were very gentle.

(Below) Val making out with one of the stingrays....

(Below) I took a quick shot of our ship before we headed back on board.