This island doesn’t have a pier for larger ships to dock, so our ship dropped anchor off shore and we took a tender boat to the island. Once on the island we saw a Pirate Statue and had to go check it out. It was the right call because this particular Pirate pointed us right to a Dunkin Donuts. Can I get a whoop whoop! I can’t think of a better way to start a day on an island than with a sugar rush from donuts and sodas. (That’s how we roll in this family).
We knew that today was going to be a blast. We hopped on the shore excursion “snorkeling and swimming with the Rays” tour bus which took us to the other side of the island to meet with our captain and his team. These guys were great. We shared the boat with about 20 other people. We climbed up on the second level and enjoyed the ride out to what is known as the “Coral Gardens”. As we were making our way out to the open sea we passed along side some very posh shore-side communities and some amazing homes. This is certainly an affluent area and this island does not tax. It really is a millionaire’s playground. I found myself coveting a few of the houses, even imagining waking up and having breakfast by the pool, tossing sausages out to the iguanas on the lawn, and having the hired help shade me with a large palm leaf while I fished from the shore line. It’s all good. I’m sure Kathy felt the same way. Fortunately thanks to a dolphin named Houdini we were able to quickly wrap our minds back around the adventure at hand. This dolphin is known to turn up every week or two for a few days. It was great that this day he not only showed up but decided that he would tag along with us for a couple of miles. He swam up along the side of the boat, he played in the wake, then sped underneath the boat from side to side. Talk about a show off. All the girls loved it. (Savannah loved it)
The coral gardens are about 4 miles off the island. The water was super clear and calm. The sun was shining, the temperature was perfect for snorkeling and my wife looked great in her swimsuit. How could things get any better? We all jumped in and were able to see so many different varieties and colors of fish and sea life. We did see one Ray at this location whose name was “Frisbee”. He had no tail, no family, and for some reason was chased off the sand bar (where all the action is) by the other Rays when he was just a little orphan. He found a home among these accepting fish and I imagine has been spoiled by sympathetic tourists ever since.
We stayed at the Garden for about an hour before heading out to the barrier reef. This barrier reef was a great area to snorkel also. There was such a rich assortment of sea life, however the current was much stronger along the reef and we had to be careful not to get caught in the shallows surrounded by portions of sharp coral. Nick and I had a good time snorkeling here, however we didn’t stay quite as long at this spot.
The next stop on our sea tour was to the famous “Sting Ray City” sand bar. This is located about 5 miles from the island and is essentially a very large and shallow (waist deep) area of sand. We found several boats backed up along the edge of the sand bar with at least 50 Rays swimming around and in between everyone. This was a once in a lifetime opportunity to swim and actually get to touch these Rays in their own environment. Kathy and the kids were able to feed small pieces of squid to the Rays. They loved it. At one point I heard Kathy let out a really loud screech, when I looked over to see who may have been trying to get fresh with my wife I saw a large Ray climbing all over her wanting more food. How can I compete with that? It was hilarious. The captain soon sent his ‘boat boy” out to catch one of the Rays so that everyone could have an opportunity to have pictures taken holding, playing, getting massages from, and even kissing the Ray. After all, it is said that if you kiss a Ray you will have 7 years good luck. We took several pictures with our own water proof camera. We also decided to purchase a CD containing several photos that were taken of each of us with the Rays by a professional photographer. I am normally way too cheap to do this, but this was just to cool.
On the boat ride back to the island we chased a sea turtle around for a few minutes and even stopped for about 15 minutes so that the ‘boat boy” could dive down to the ocean floor and bring up some live starfish for everyone to hold. Kathy and the kids really loved that. I loved just being there with my family. Great times!
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