For the start of our day at George Town, everyone who booked excursions were divided into groups and had to wait inside the theatre until we were called to take a tender to shore. After a quick five minute ride, we finally made it to shore around 10:45am. Once we got settled into our groups, we were loaded onto buses heading to the boat club, where we would then be taking a boat towards stingray city.

It was another gorgeous day out in the Caribbean. I made sure to slather myself in sunscreen since we were sitting on the top deck for the 30 minute ride towards stingray city. The sun was out at full force but it was nice catching the breeze from the boat. By the time we got there, I noticed other boats already anchored in the area and there were so many stingrays swimming all around. It was quite unlike anything I’d seen in my life.

One by one we unloaded off the boat. I was a bit nervous about the water, as the height from where we were anchored was nearly up to my chin while standing on tippy toes. Once I was comfortably on my feet in waist-deep water, I realized how much nicer it was in the water than on the boat! The water was the perfect temperature and it was so clear you could see all the stingrays swimming close by. 

We stayed at stingray city for about 30 minutes while our guides showed us how to pet the stingrays. Apparently if you kiss a stingray you get 7 years of good luck. We also had the opportunity to feed the stingrays with a piece of squid. Even though they warned us about the suction from their mouths and to keep our thumbs out of the way, I wasn’t prepared for just how powerful their mouths were. Note to self: don’t attempt to feed a stingray again. 

Seeing the stingrays was probably the highlight out of the entire trip. Once we got back onto the boat, we started making our way to the boat club, then transferred to a bus which would take us to the Cayman Turtle Centre. We had about an hour inside the centre on a self-guided tour. We saw the turtle tanks, visited Smiley’s Croc Cove, went inside the aviary, butterfly house and hatchery.

It was just after 3pm by the time the bus came to pick up our group. Most of us were pretty hungry because we had been waiting for lunch since leaving stingray city. It was also stifling hot outside (I’m pretty sure this was the day I got sunburnt on my shoulders), so most of us were hangry by the time we arrived at our lunch destination, Spanglish. Luckily I really enjoyed my curry chicken so it made up for the late lunch. 

We took one of the last tenders back to the ship and unwinded for the rest of the afternoon. Since we had such a late lunch, we ended up having dinner much later than usual. That was the only day we saw the second viewing of the evening performance. Overall I loved my day in George Town. I would even brave the heat to go back again as I had such an amazing time swimming with the stingrays!