Paradise Day Three and Four

Cruise Day #3 -- Grand Cayman

Okay people, Grand Cayman is beautiful! Oh my goodness. It definitely helped that the day was absolutely gorgeous. And when I say gorgeous, yes, I mean perfect. The sand on the beaches is white. The water is perfectly clear and makes a beautiful, turquoise tint. And the area is just, well, cute. This was definitely the cleanest of the places we visited.

Oh, and another reason {perhaps the BIGGEST reason} I loved Grand Cayman was because of what we did there. We swam with dolphins! Yes, for the second time (the first was on our honeymoon). Or rather I should say MYf second time. Jess has been a bunch and doesn't really care for it. But he knows that I LOVE it and he loves how happy it makes me. It was sooo fun! This time we actually got to ride the dolphin. It came up from behind me on its back. I grabbed one fin with each hand and rode on its belly. So much fun! Then, I balanced on a boogie board and the dolphin pushed my feet with its nose. It was so fast! Twenty five miles per hour, according to the trainer. How cool is that? We also had a water fight with the dolphin, threw a ball to it, shook it's hand, kissed it, and lots more! I loved it!

Another thing we did was play with sea turtles. They were floating in their pool and we were just allowed to go over and pick them up. Crazy, huh?! You'd think there would be more regulations (especially since the trainers just left us with them), but no. We were free to do what we wanted. It was scary because they kept flapping their fins around. Needless to say, I got VERY wet. They splashed me a ton.

**Side story: While I was picking up a turtle, a lady was freaking out. She couldn't fathom how I could do such a thing. To her, it was way too scary. Then, she decided she wanted to hold it, but was too scared to pick it up out of the water herself. She proceeded to ask me if she could take it from me. Of course I said yes. As she was coming over {then backing up and coming forward again} she asked me to keep holding it while she grabbed it in case she changed her mind. It was so funny! Then her and her friends took a picture with Jess when he was holding the big turtle. None of them wanted to hold it, but they wanted a picture with it so they asked him to be in it with them. Priceless.

Oh, and did I mention the 6 month old baby turtle? My favorite. By far. It was SOOOO small. And sweet. And precious. I had to restrain myself from slipping it into my bag to take home with me.

But the scariest thing we did was to swim with sting rays. Oh my gosh. I was freaking out. But then, as we were getting out, the guy informed us their stingers had been cut off. Well, thanks Mr. Trainer Man, that would have been nice to know, well I don't know, BEFORE I got in the water. I was freaking out the whole time. But it was way fun!

After our sea creature adventures we ate at Margaritaville {and yes, had virgin coladas again}. And, of course, we went shopping at the little shops. We got Ryan a pirate piggy bank. It's way cute. And Jess got some homemade hot sauce. For those of you that don't know, Jess LOVES hot sauce. He puts it on EVERYTHING. And I mean everything. He's crazy.

Cruise Day #4 -- Roatan, Honduras

In Roatan, we went on a giant zip line. I loved it! I started to freak out right before I took off, but it was so fun. And the views were simply priceless. But the men that put on the gear and were at all the various platforms along the way happen to like blondes a little bit too much. They kept finding any excuse they could to flirt with me or put their hands on me. For instance, as you near the end of each line, the guy at the platform will tell you to slow down. They always told me to speed up. Now this wasn't because I was going too slow. I was livin' it up. Rather, they wanted to have to "catch" me so I didn't run into a tree. So they would wrap their arms around me to slow me down. After the first two, I caught on and stopped speeding up at the end. It didn't work. They grabbed me anyway. Eh. Creepy. But still fun.

After the zip lines, we went to a beach and hung out in the water for awhile. The water is WARM. I love it. It's not like Cali where you freeze your butt off if you want to get in the ocean.

Jess went to Honduras for his mission (not this part, but the ghetto part). But they have this food called Baleadas. Basically it's the Honduran form of the bean burrito...but WAY better. In other words, all homemade ingredients. He was determined to find some, but nobody could tell us where to get them. We were in the tourist area of Roatan, so all they had was hamburgers and hot dogs. But, after a long {barefooted} walk, we found some. They were way good. Except the cheese. The cheese there is nasty. But I really liked them. And, I also had pineapple juice. Favorite. Mmmmmm.

And check out this awesome view the bus driver pulled over for just so I could snap a picture.

Oh, and meet Mr. Gorilla. Isn't he so cuddly?