The Time I Swam With A Dolphin

Last cruise post.... I promise, well at least for this year! 

The last port of our cruise we decided to do a shore excursion to swim with Dolphins since I couldn't find a way to Stanley Cay to swim with the Pigs. It was $90 online so we signed up. During "peak" season it's like $240 or something so I thought what a deal. Little did I know that it also included swimming with sting rays.

It was a 30 minute boat ride to this beautiful island, Balmoral Island. (all the pictures below were part of the cd I bought) 

The dolphins are kept in a pretty big rope in area of the ocean. Our trainer said most of them are breed by humans so they would not survive out in the wild. He did mention that some groups have trainer the dolphins to openly swim in the ocean for a few hours and than they return, they were going to work on it with these guys. Also, he mentioned he asks the dolphins to do this and if they choose not too they can swim out into the area and they will not chase them. He says it's happened before were the dolphin didn't want to be around humans that day. 

The beautiful private beach. Where that line of tree is, is where the sandals resort is located. 

The pictures below are from the day we went swimming with Vin the dolphin. It was probably one of the best things I've done in a long time. 

Vin gave lots of kisses 

Sometimes he even made faces at the guys.. 

After the dolphins came the sting rays.. I wasn't a fan. I really tried to ask if I could do the dolphins again instead of the sting rays.

Sadly the picture below is a picture of my picture. I am not sure why this picture didn't end up on my cd but to say I am bummed is an understatement. They wanted me to pay another $70 to get this one picture on cd so I just opted to buy the picture. 

This is called the Sting Ray photo bomb!

Do you notice my facial expression from the dolphin to the sting rays? I was terrified! 

Since he knew I was scared of these things he decided to rub it on my head. He almost had a dead sting ray!

Next time I will just opt to swim with the dolphins.. There is no need to do the sting rays again. 

Have you gone swimming with dolphins or sting rays before? What was your experience like?

Caribbean Cruise Day 5: Nassau, Bahamas

The last port of our cruise was Nassau, Bahamas. Let me tell you, I thought for sure it would be a lot nicer but I guess that is only on Paradise Island where Atlantis is located. It truly reminded me of Mexico.  

This was the day we did a shore excursion to go swimming with the dolphins and little did I know it included sting rays.

It was a 30 minute little boat ride over to the Balmoral Island which just so happens to be where the Sandals resort is located. Anyone interested in doing that, DONT! There is NOTHING on the island. I believe they are trying to expand the island but currently it's the dolphins, the sting rays and one bar. 

This was our trainer with our dolphin. Camera weren't allowed when we were in the water, but I did get some pictures of us with the Dolphins and Sting Rays tomorrow. 

After the Dolphins and Sting Rays we spend the rest of the time on the island doing nothing. Than we boarded our boat back to the port to shop and walk around. 

Proud to be an American!

The local beer where we ate lunch/dinner. The lime was the best one. The people are nice but are pushy and they are in no rush to get you your food. We waited over 2 hours for some food.

Waiting for our food

This was the restaurants signature drink called the Pain Killer.  

After lunch we walked the streets and so many people were telling us "come see what I have to sell", "come by my stuff", "I have things to take back home" - I was over people talking to me that we just went to a little shop on the corner bought what we wanted and headed back to the ship. The streets smelt horrible and we heard the crime has been crazy there. 

One of my favorite parts of cruising is watching us leave ports. We always get a balcony so it's nice to have that private area to watch from. Well Alex decided to go get a plate of fries and a drink. As we were pulling out all these birds were following us so we decided to start feeding them fries. Next thing we know, other people on their balconies were doing the same thing and we had the whole folk following our boat. It was some good entertainment. Even though I am deathly scared of birds. 

Than we headed back to Miami for Alex to go back to work and I came back home. It was good to spend that week with him and I can't wait for next year. We're already planning our trip. 

Caribbean Cruise Day 4: Half Moon Cay

Welcome to Day 4 of the Caribbean Cruise, we landed upon Half Moon Cay. It is beautiful island, soft white sand, beautiful clear water and this awesome villa my uncle rented for the day. 

We had to tender into the island. I am not a fan of tendering but this time it wasn't too bad. It went pretty quickly. 

A bar on the island is called " I wish I could stay here forever", talk about the best photo opt .

Finally we arrived where we would be staying for the day. They had a tram but they only had one running that day so we decided to walk in the humidity to our little place.

Half Moon Cay is Carnival owned. Therefore everything on the island is used with your sign and sail card that is attached to the ship. Even the people who work on the boat are working the island. So as expected it was expensive but they did offer free lunch which was okay. We booked this villa online before we left for our cruise and once we boarded our ship in Miami we went to guest service to book which one we wanted, we picked C.

Thank goodness we got a villa because EVERYONE on the ship hangs out on the same beach. It looked like a city and chairs were everywhere and there is no shade. It was nice to leave all our stuff everywhere and not worry about it getting stolen or wet. Also, it was nice to get away from the people. 

The best decision I have made in awhile was buying this water proof camera. I didn't have to worry about it while on this trip. 

Scuba Hubby

After awhile of bobbing around in the water we decided to take some selfies.

Our ship

After a day of bobbing in the water and drinking in the sun it was time to catch the tender back to the boat.

It was shower time and get ready for dinner

Over all, Half Moon Cay isn't bad. I can say I have been there and explored it. If it ends up on my itinerary again I won't complain and we will be getting a villa. Have you ever been there?

Day 5: Nassau, Bahamas