Key West: The Eurodam was docked in the Naval base instead of the downtown dock. There were free shuttles running people to town since no walking around in the base was permitted. The shuttle left us off just outside the gates to the base and we walked about 15-20 minutes (rather slowly since I was taking pictures) to the beach at Ft. Zachary Park. The concession guy mentioned the snorkeling probably wouldn't be very good because of the direction of the surf and sand being churned up. But I had to try it anyway! It did start clearing up some as time went on. It cleared up nicely, so I suggested we swim to the rocky areas away from the beach. After a couple more hours in the water, Ken and I were chatting above water when I felt a sudden sharp pain all over my left forearm! I immediately thought jelly fish?---then---am I allergic to them since I'm allergic to bee stings? Wish I had taken it's picture now, but I was concerned about getting back to shore in case I went into anaphylactic shock. Immediately my arm welted up. There happened to be someone else on shore who had also been stung and she was pouring white vinegar on it that she got from the concession stand. So I went to the concession stand and she fixed me up, too. Apparently she had 3 other people come to her with stings and right after me they put up the purple flag meaning sea pests were present. The pain really didn't last too long, but the itching that started by the next morning was pretty intense---for over a week. But at least I didn't go into anaphylactic shock. Since we'd been at the beach for about 4 hours by then, we decided to head back to the shuttle and run into town. I had forgotten to bring any contact solution so we figured we'd go to the cvs near the shuttle stop. I enjoyed the free shuttle and seeing a bit of Key West. It really is a neat little town. Shortly after sail away we were passing Ft. Zachary beach where we had snorkeled. Snorkeling by the rock walls was really quite good, despite the jellyfish encounter.

Grand Cayman day! Every since I went here with the kids for a land based trip back in 2001, I've been anxious to go back. The snorkeling was great and I knew there was a great place to snorkel right by where the ships tender into. It was a great day!!! We walked from the tender dock to Paradise cafe (Marine Park). Took about 10 minutes of leisurely walking. There is a little rental area for snorkel gear and such there, too. We had our own, but did rent a locker for $5 to lock my phone and such in while we were snorkeling. DH does have a waterproof "wallet" and used that for our cards and money. They also had a changing room, but I didn't know that so didn't bring a change of clothes. We were even able to use their free WI-fi. Snorkeling here was not only fantastic, but it is FREE!!! I was a little surprised when I first got in and saw all the huge (5' long or longer) tarpins hanging around there. But they were harmless and rather fun to watch. We were directed to go out past the yellow inflatable deck to the first buoy which was "Devil's Grotto", then continue left to the 2nd buoy "Eden's Rock" and back. Shortly after we got to Eden Rock, a full snorkel excursion pontoon boat showed up. I would have been ticked off if I paid for an excursion and found it was within walking distance and had free entrance! I wonder how much they paid to be taken out there? We vacated Eden Rock to the hundred or so new snorkelers and headed back towards Devil's Grotto. The sealife was amazing! We even saw 2 nurse sharks. After we'd been out there a couple hours, the inside of my mask was beading up with water. We decided to slowly head in so I could clean out my mask and put more defogger drops in it. Right as I got close to the steps, the guy from the rental booth or restaurant decided to feed the tarpin. He thought he was doing us a favor by throwing the food towards us snorkelers. That would create a feeding frenzy right by us. I was a bit nervous at first because I've been by feeding frenzies in Hawaii and some of those fish nip pretty hard and these guys were much larger. Turns out they just went for the food and ignored us. After cleaning my mask, we headed back out. We snorkeled about 4 hours then DH was ready to head in. So I reluctantly followed. I had one more mission before going back to the ship---finding a pharmacy and getting some calamine lotion for my jelly fish sting (which felt amazing in the water!). So we walked back past the tender dock, around the Margaritaville to the shops behind it where the guy at the marine park said the pharmacy was and did indeed find some calamine lotion. Before tendering back to the ship, DH joined the hordes of people using the free wi fi in the Margaritaville Mall.

After not being able to tender into the beach last time we were at Half Moon Cay and ending up with another day at sea, I was anxious to see if we would get to the beach this time. We did and we (at least I) had a great time! The surf was down and the water was clear. Didn't take long for us to make our way into the water. Soon we were heading towards the snorkel area by the kids play area. We even saw a couple turtles there this time. The snorkel area seems to be getting better and better since the first time we were there. Instead of just having juvenile fish, there were even some larger fish like surgeon fish and snapper. After a couple hours it was time to head to the bar b q on the beach. Along with the salads and fruits, they grilled burgers, hotdogs, and mahi mahi. I had mahi mahi which was very good. Ken enjoyed the burgers and hot dogs. We also ate LOTS of watermelon! Why---because the water to the island was out so we couldn't get anything to drink unless we wanted to pay for a can of beer or soda. So we had watermelon. Clever way for HAL to make more money! I understand they ran out of cans of soda on the island. It wouldn't have been so bad if they had let people know before leaving the ship that the water was out, then we could have brought some water with us.Then I took a walk along the beach while Ken went back to our loungers. Back by our loungers, I went back in to snorkel until it was time to leave.