Stingray City
The 5:30a wake-up call came early as we had to head out to Rum Point for our trip to Stingray City. We drove out to Rum Point in the dark but we were treated to a gorgeous sunrise as we got ready for our trip to Stingray City. We booked this excursion through White Sands as they offered the only excursion that got out to the sandbar before the cruise ships came into port.
In total, we had 8 people plus the captain on our boat (5 from our group and a family of 3) and we made it out to Stingray City as the sun was breaking the horizon. If there’s one thing that I have to recommend as a must-do from this trip it’s the visit to Stingray City. According to our captain, during peak times there are 60-80 boats all competing for the same piece of sandbar so it was a real treat to be the only boat. We had the opportunity to feed, hold, and play with the stingrays for over half an hour. Afterwards we headed off for an hour long snorkel trip that was mediocre at best compared to what we experienced on our first snorkel trip.
The GF showing the Stingrays some love
Stingray sneak attack
Absolutely massive.
Starfish Point
After our stingray/snorkel trip we were dropped off back on Rum Point and after a short drive we found ourselves at Starfish Point. The area is very well known for starfish and there are hundreds located in the water right off the beach. We had the opportunity to get up close and personal with a number of starfish before heading off to lunch prior to our cave tour.
Lunch
Crystal Caves
After an early lunch at Over the Edge we were off to our tour of the Crystal Caves. We arrived about an hour early and tried to get on the earlier tour but they were full. To pass the time we found a food truck across the street with a Chicago Cubs flag flying out front. After chatting with the owner, we discovered that he was 5th generation Caymanian and after a career in Chicago he moved back to the island to open up a restaurant. Everything that the serve is grown/harvested in house and was absolutely phenomenal.
After a visit to Island Bites it was time to start our cave adventure. After a short bus ride into the wilderness, we were at the entrance to the caves. There were three total caves as part of our tour and before we entered the first cave we were offered some local fruit smoothies made on site. After finishing our smoothies, it was time to start the tour.
Hoping this bus makes it
More iguanas
The first stop was the Open Ceilings Cave which compared to the other two was unimpressive but still had some descent views. After that, we were off to the Roots Cave which was larger and had some much more intricate formations.
The final cave was the Lake Cave which was on the small side but had the most impressive area as, as the name suggested, had a lake within the cave. After grabbing some photos we were back to the main meeting area and headed back to the house to relax and rest from our early wake-up.
The Blowholes
After a nap and some sunning by the pool we were back out to do some more exploring. The next stop was The Blowholes along the road leading to the East End. We got there right as the tide was beginning to come in and managed to grab some great photos of the blowholes in action.
After a visit to the blowholes, we had dinner at the house before heading around the corner to Taco Cantina for some late night queso and margs before calling it a night.
