Snowy Range Pass

Snowy Range Pass

Wednesday, May 28, 2014

Grand Cayman Island



Our final stop of the cruise was Grand Cayman.  This is a well known upscale resort island.  It is also well known for its offshore banking industry, which was very evident as you walked around the town center. 







This time we decided on a little different tour.  We signed up for the Atlantis submarine tour.  We double checked to ensure that it was in fact a submarine.  In some places, the advertised submarine is really a boat made to look like a sub, but is actually a surface vessel with a sea thru hull.  Since this was a tender port, we took the tender to shore and then another boat out to the submarine buoy.  As we approached the mooring, the sub was not in sight.  When we were within a 100 yards of the mooring the submarine surfaced in front of us, as it was returning from the previous tour. 





The tour lasted a little over an hour and took us over one of the reefs near shore down to a depth of 120 feet.  The reef was not in the best condition but the visibility good given the thickness of the glass viewing ports holding the water out.    At one point, we hovered over a trench that dropped over a thousand feet down. It was a very enjoyable trip.










Back ashore, we toured some of the downtown area, but soon it was time to board the tender for the trip back to the Coral Princess. 






The end of our trip was in sight.

11 comments:

Wanderin' said...

It's also very popular for snorkeling and diving with the sting rays!!

Gypsy said...

The submarine tour looks like such an interesting thing to do, but no way would I go underwater in one of those things!

John Hedges said...

You can now apply for your wings as a sub mariner.

Paul and Marsha Weaver OCT. 17, 2009 said...

Gorgeous photos.

A submarine tour will be awesome. You two sure had a super adventure.

Jim and Sandie said...

In a submarine, under water - not sure I could do that. Another one of those that I would have to really think long and hard about. But I loved your pictures of Grand Cayman - always hear about it on TV or read about it in books. Never really knew what it looked like.

Sherry said...

Submarine tour. I would never have imagined it. Very cool although I'm sorry to see the trash and hear that the coral reefs are damaged. Also interesting to see where the other half puts all their money so they don't have to pay the taxes we peons do to keep the country providing the services we all need.

Bob and Jo said...

Not sure we would ever get into a submarine.

Paul and Marti Dahl said...

And to think I used to chase little submarines that carried a different cargo than tourists...

Nice that you got a chance to visit your offshore bank in person! :cD

Erin said...

No problems on big subs ... but then, I've not been underwater in them. But I tried these sightseeing subs twice, and had to leave before it dived ... it got way too warm inside, which just added to my claustrophobia.

Happytrails said...

What an incredible experience!! The pictures were simply gorgeous. Sounds like a great cruise and I can't wait to catch up reading all about it.
It feels so good to be back with our friends in blogland. You all take care!!

Laura said...

Sub trip looked interesting... photos made me claustrophobic!