Dec 18: Grand Cayman, horseback riding
This morning, I got to escort my first excursion this contract! It was great because I got to get up and out on one of the very first tenders instead of waiting around 3 hours for open tender. None of the other first 4 excursions had escorts (one was really just a transfer to the beach, so it makes sense it didn’t need an escort), so I had to lead the way for all of them to the crew staircase down to deck A and the tender platforms. Once in the port, we found the person with a sign for our excursion and met the group. Ours was a very small group, just four of us: three older ladies and myself. We signed our waiver then were taken on a 5 minute walk to our transportation to the stables on HoneySuckle Beach, an SUV. That was a bit odd for me, I guess I just had gotten used to the big (and full) tour buses for excursions in Europe over the summer; but for four of us, it was perfect. Our driver talked very little, but pointed out the big resorts and stuff along the way, he got more chatty as we got closer though, telling us about the island. Once at HoneySuckle Beach, we put our bags in the supply house, and were each given a horse to ride. I was the first, Mocha was his name, I got on pretty easily, then our guide led me and my horse to the fence to wait while the others got their horses. It took some time, but we were all ready to head out finally and our guide told me to go out the gate first and stop at the path right before the actual beach, apparently I was leading the rest, once we were all in order and the gate closed once more, our guide made his way to the front and we set off. One thing about this excursion, it’s definitely not suited for anyone who’s never ridden a horse before. We were given the reins, and though the horses knew the path and to follow, well, my horse, we still had to direct them, and keep up with the guide ourselves. A few times the two ladies in the back fell behind a bit, so I slowed down to let them catch up somewhat. It was a pretty day, warm in the long pants and shoes we’d been told we had to wear, but there was a nice breeze coming across the water, and the somewhat constant splash of water as we rode right at the waters edge. We rode out for about half an hour, then went deeper into the water, it wasn’t quite up to the stirrups, but getting close. We didn’t stay in the deep water for long, just long enough for us to give cameras to the guide for him to take pictures for us, then it was back on the trail back to the stable. On the ride back, we took a little bit different route, a few times through paths further inland among the trees. It was interesting seeing some of the things that had been collected washing ashore. One tree at the waterline was covered in shoes, I think they were actually stapled to the tree. Odd decoration, but interesting. Also on the way back, we saw people out on the water doing some kind of sport, we asked the guide and he told us all about kite surfing, which seems like it’d be pretty cool to try. The people out there that way went pretty far, pretty quickly, doing tricks too! Back at the stable, we gave each of our horses an apple (one of the ladies had brought 4 apples for that exact purpose), and got back in the SUV to head back to the ship.
It was kind of funny because about the time I got back to the tender to get back on, it was apparently open tender because a lot of crew members were just getting off. I hung out for a bit, then went to Club HAL to help Ethan with lunch before we got off to go to the beach. Alex came with us, and we ended up going to a different part of 7-mile beach from where I went last time we were here. It was good though because it was a bit cheaper for crew since the taxi ride was a dollar less each way and we didn’t have to pay the $2 entrance fee as crew members! Alex and Ethan got wifi for a bit whereas I went right to an empty spot on the sand, laid out my towel and jumped in the water. We only had about an hour there, because crew all aboard was early since we were tendering, but it was still a nice hour on the beach: time off, chatting, enjoying the sun and water. :) A very good day.
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