Up at 7 a.m. to head down for breakfast and get started on the day as I'm getting kind of excited to visit The Pines. The air is warm (26c) but not as humid as earlier stops so more comfortable. After waiting on deck 3 for the first tender it's a short boat trip into the pier.
We search for a taxi and $12 takes us on a 5 min. drive to The Pines Retirment Home. It's a pale green sructure with a metal roof, nice grounds and cheerful friendly staff. They suffered hurricane damage a few years ago and so they need to rebuild and the 28 residents are in the meantime in every available space. The administrative assistant Haleema (she's orginally from Nigeria) tells me she's been here 7 months with her husband who's English and a surveyor (he's also a dive nerd having once spent 2 wks. doing a dive tour of Grand, Little Cayman and Cayman Brac). She says she's settled into the ex-pat community here and enjoys the life. There is some discussion with the receptionist (Darlene from Edmonton) about the cost of living (rent is $850 to over $2000 for the more upscale apartments) and the logistics of visas for working or visiting only spouses. Most of the staff are Jamaican, with a few Canadian or British. I gather all the details on the residents (age 65 - 75 or so) and the duties of the job (not many meds, no night shifts, staffing pattern) and the contract (2 yrs can be renewed). The facility is immaculately clean and smells great, there are lots of recreation activities, two vans for outings, weekly physician visits and a nearby hospital.
Having all the info on board we ask about walking back to the pier or a bus and are generously offered a lift in the truck by Haleema who drops us off for lunch at a harbour front restaurant called Paradise where we discuss the visit. My travel partner (who has been recruited as an objective observer) confirms that this would not be a good fit for me and I have to agree. This would be a great place to visit but not to work here. I'm momentarily disappointed but also relieved to have checked it out first. And the lunch of conch fritters and turtle soup is a nice touch while we watch snorkelers off the deck with the cruise ship in the background. We're told that yesterday there were 7 ships in port so we have a better day today.
We stroll over to the pier to catch our tour (find it's been moved to 11 a.m so we missed it) get offered a refund by a guest relations staff when we both return to the ship and find another tour (saving $50 between us) to Stingray City leaving in 5 minutes. We head out in a van past Seven Mile Beach, passing lots of construction, upscale accomodations and many fast food outlets - driving on the English side of the road is a bit unnerving. Everything is very clean, well kept and .... expensive!
We catch a small speedboat with 13 other passengers and a captain who reminds us of Captain Ron in the movie of the same name (kind of rough around the edges) as we watch him put away a few Caymanian beers on the way out. The water is a beautiful blue, it's a warm windy day and he tells us it's the best day they've had all week as it's been really rough and the water hasn't been clear. After a 15 min. steam we notice a brilliant aqua patch of water up ahead which is the sandbar of Stingray City. As soon as the rays (all female) hear the engine of the boat stop and the
floating bait bucket go in the water they rush over for lunch. The water is up to our chest/necks and we're told not to wear our fins and just stand still so we don't step on the barb in the tail (easier said than done) with the waves pushing you around a bit. The stingrays are impatient and swoop around our legs causing screeches all around - some are 8 - 10 ft. across down to very small. We all have a chance to gently hold one (we must relax our arms first so we don't upset her the captain says) born without a barb - the captain says she's 40 yrs old and they live to be 70. They feel like a halibut with a smooth (young are slimy) underbelly and sandpapery top side. If you hold your hand out flat with the squid on the palm they will suction it right off and they help themselves to the bait in the bucket if no one is watching. They come really close to look you in the eyes with their big eyes. After the photo shoot we climb back aboard the boat. This is the one place in the world you can swim in the ocean with the stingrays - we would not have missed this for anything!Another 15 min. steam and we stop in crystal clear 80 F water over a reef for snorkeling. Some of the whitest sand, georgeous coral and the best selection of tropical creatures (3 ft across starfish, spiny lobster, tube and brain corals, schools of snapper, grouper, lots of angelfish and jacks - breath taking) I've seen outside of an aquarium. My partner at first was telling me she was nervous about snorkeling off the boat in 10 ft of water but...she takes right off as she's so enthralled with the sights. What a trip. A quick bumpy ride across the harbour, into the dock (spot a blue iguana on a post) and into the waiting van to catch the last tender of the day to the ship passing yachts, a tourist pirate ship replica and other tenders. No time to pick up rum cakes or other delicacies but what a day!
Time to quickly get ready for formal night and we hit the Windjammer Grill deciding that the food is actually better here than in the dining room. The competitive dance team heads down for a formal portrait (good quality but fairly expensive at $20 for a 8x10) and then they're off to catch the latin music.The gentleman host tells us that he dove with Hans Jost today and they were discussing Nova Scotian shipwrecks and he was able to ask "do you mean Sable Island or Cape Sable Island?" due to his tourism lesson earlier in the week. I select a scrapbook with the Royal Caribbean logo and Explorer of the Seas package - I am going to have fun putting this together at home. Hard to think that this fantasy week will soon be ending. Sigh.
