Most exciting kiss of my life!

C.  Cayman Islands - Dolphin swim and stingray city.

So when I first heard about this cruise idea, I immediately knew I had to swim with a dolphin.  If not now, then when??  As we planned which excursion we’d go on at each port, my reply to “what do you want to do here?” among the option of deep sea diving, snorkeling, jet skiing, snuba-ing, kayaking, ziplining, etc., was ALWAYS “I don’t care what we do….as long as I get to swim with a dolphin.”  I know, I know.  How childish. But cmonnn that was something unimaginable to me until now…and now that there was a slightest possibility that it may actually be an option, I had to be assertive. 

DEEP BREATH.  Let me try to contain my excitement enough to type out this story comprehensively.  I touched a dolphin.  I swam with a dolphin.  I kissed a dolphin.  I also kissed a stingray.  And got a back rub from a stingray.  I…just had the best day of my life.  The Cayman Islands are absolutely BEAUTIFUL.  The water is crystal clear…so clear you can spot a starfish below several feet of water from a moving boat.

If you can imagine a child tickled by excitement, writhing in anticipation for … lets say going to Disneyland, multiply that by 10 and you’ll understand how I felt waiting on the bench, watching the dolphins swim around the little area of the ocean blocked off for this excursion.  We finally got into the water, swam over to our group and listened to the rules from our dolphin trainer.

Then she instructed us to hold the dolphin up,

followed by kissing the dolphin,

and lastly swimming with the dolphin.  And by swimming, I don’t just mean alongside…the dolphin pops up in front of you, facing you as you grab onto its fins and it swims backward on its belly with you lying on top of it being pulled along!  :D  COOLEST THING EVER!!

And just when I thought the day couldn’t get any cooler…IT DID.  We got on another little boat that took us way out into the ocean with no land around…until we came upon this lighter patch of ocean that was much like a small underwater island.

The water was about 3 ft deep in the middle and deeper as we went to the edge, but it was so clear…except for these dark oversized doormat-looking things floating around.  AHHHHIOFWEFADKHF!!! when one swam up against my leg.

water-proof cameras are super handy

we got to feed 'em too!  they eat squid

7 years good luck! 

Oh just getting a back rub from a stingray...nbd

Stingrays are always happy! :D

On the boat ride back, we stopped for a minute unexpectedly.  Remember how earlier I mentioned that the water was so clear you could see a starfish at the bottom?  Well the crew guys saw a couple so they dove in and retrieved them, put 'em in a bucket and let us take pictures of them.  (our boat had the coolest guys working...so chill mon...they actually say mon. like ya mon)

The Cayman Islands have definitely made it into my top 10 favorite places on Earth.  I will definitely go back one day!  I didn't get to explore the culture much, but i did learn a few things.

1. Roosters are the islands' pigeons.  They are wild and everywhere!  Apparently, they came from Cuba way back when and have even made it to the Florida keys to become their mascot animal.

yes...that IS a rooster casually loitering in front of a Kentucky Fried CHICKEN.

2.  Parrots are kinda scary when they look at you...but they can be trained very well.  I think they'd make good hypnotists

Notice his multitasking capabilities...holding a pigeon WHILE feeding a wild rooster!

3.  People who work on the island and take people out on stingray tours have the coolest job in the world...all they do is swim with graceful fascinating creatures all day long.

Looking back, this was one of the greatest days of my entire life.  AND I got a nice tan to top it off   :]