Carnival Paradise May 18th-23rd 2013

[BenjiRodney]

Watch out for the Devil:

 

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Wider view of the rock formations.

 

[BenjiRodney]

Up next on the tour would be the Turtle Farm. We were given over an hour to play here, you could also walk across the street to the see the Dolphins, we stayed the whole time with the turtles.

[BenjiRodney]

The turtles ranged in all ages and sizes, Sparky was one of the largest, she was 70 years old and weighed in at 600 lbs. She did not want to surface so I did not get a good shot of her. They do allow you to hold the 6 month old turtles.

[BenjiRodney]

These creatures were amazing to see, since I do not swim, I have not had the chance to interact with them on past cruises.

 

[BenjiRodney]

More Green Sea Turtles:

 

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[BenjiRodney]

This was one of the little guys that you could hold. They like to be scratched under their chin, this calms them down.

 

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Same Baby turtle. You could also see the incubation center, but none were hatching at the time we were in there.

[BenjiRodney]

There were also Iguanas here and in the trees at the Gift Shop in Hell. This little guy seemed comfortable with the crowds and was willing to pose for his fans:

 

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After playing with the turtles it was time to say good bye and head for a brief stop on the beach. We were able to get out at Governor's Beach, home to the Governor of the Caymans.

 

[BenjiRodney]

The water was crystal clear.

 

[BenjiRodney]

After the beach stop we had about 2 hours left before the last tender back to the ship. This is one of those ports that you need more time, 2 more hours would have been perfect.

[BenjiRodney]

Back to the ship:

 

[BenjiRodney]

We left shortly after the scheduled time of 3pm, tomorrow would be Cozumel Mexico, with an arrival at 11am. The Carnival Elation was to be joining us tomorrow. We were the only ship in Grand Cayman.

[BenjiRodney]

It was nice to sleep in, but not too late, it seems like everyone slept in, we made it up to Lido for a nice surprise, towel animals had taken over.

[BenjiRodney]

 

[BenjiRodney]

More Animals:

 

 

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The Carnival Elation docked next to us:

 

[BenjiRodney]

We arrived earlier than 11 as we were off the ship prior to 11 am. Since we were just here in Jan 2013, we had no specific plans other than to eat at Three Amigos and to take a taxi downtown.

 

In Jan we did the Ancient Culture/Ruins and Island Sightseeing tour, it was very informative and a nice tour.

[BenjiRodney]

This was in a central plaza downtown Cozumel. It was kind of unnerving at all of the people cat calling you to come into their stores, buy this, you want this, how about this? We went into the stores that did not do this, that is where we spent out money.

 

[BenjiRodney]

We spent a couple of hours looking around, got our pictures made with some very friendly parrots, and found a Starbucks to escape the heat for a few minutes. We saw the other two areas where cruise ships dock and I can say that Carnival and Puerta Maya is the best place to dock.

[BenjiRodney]

We made it back to the port and I saw a Harley store just outside the area and had to go get a Poker Chip, I have been collecting these in all of the ports that I can. I ran the bags back to the ship and came back off to do some more shopping. If you are looking for a Wi-Fi signal to check in, Try Los Cinco Soles, that is where we found a signal.

 

We stayed off until after 6pm, went back showered and changed and did dinner at Lido. Then I set out to watch the sunset and captured some it.

 

[BenjiRodney]

A shot of the map from the ship showing where we had been.

 

[BenjiRodney]

Tried to give just a brief taste of this cruise.

 

Staff was exceptional, always smiling and talking to you. Captain was funny and willing to talk and take pictures with the passengers.

 

Only one small problem with the lights in the room and it was corrected by a ships electrician in a matter of minutes.