Ok, onto our last full day on the Island. The bulk of our day was spent on a snorkeling boat. Grandpa John had chartered a small boat so we had it all to ourselves which was lovely. Sadly Ma & Papa weren't able to come with us that day b/c they had to visit the ER instead! Papa had a terrible ear infection that needed treatment asap. We certainly missed them!
The boat ride was amazing. We went to a few different snorkeling sites, which I'll try to remember, but I'll be honest I may miss some because I was on the boat with the boys the majority of the time. First up was a site where we could dive for conch shells. After we collected our shells the captain showed us how you remove the meat from inside and cooked it up for us. It was both amazing and gross all at once! lol. After the conch site we visited a coral reef or two, and then it was onto the biggie. Stingray City.
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| ready to snorkel! |
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| some of our beautiful conch shells |
Stingray City... how exactly do I explain Stingray City. Essentially it's a sandbar in the ocean where the water is only about waist high. The sandbar is filled with hundreds of stingrays that are so accustomed to people that they will literally swim right up to you, let you hold them, eat from your hand, and aggressively rub against you. That's the technical way to describe it, but actually witnessing it? Unreal. It was incredibly disconcerting. Having a gigantic sea creature that you usually try and avoid swim up and rub itself all over you? Weeeeiiiiiirrrdddd. And we're not talking one or two, but dozens. It was so very strange. Some of the crew seemed to love it, Timmy & Gracie had tears, me.... well I was just creeped out to be honest. I found myself wanting to have my arms up in the air the entire time. lol. I will say this, weird as it was it was certainly a once in a lifetime experience, and one I'm glad I had!
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| just holding a stingray! |
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| the groups swimming w/the stingrays. you can't see how much timmy is screaming here. lol. |
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| relaxing on the boat in Stingray City. this pic pretty much sums up how the boys felt about it. one liked it, the other? not so much. lol |
After the boat ride and some fantastic naps Tim, the boys, and I headed down to the beach to take some family pics. Being the insane momtographer I am I came prepared and brought a tripod and remote with me. I'm so glad I did though because we got some amazing shots that I know I will treasure forever.
and a special pic with the birthday girl!!!
OMG are they cute. These photos are so pretty... It looks like you had a ton of fun and this makes me want to vacation (again, we just got back from Disney).
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