Runaway Beach and Stingray City

I'm going to set the record straight and just say that this is my favorite island of the entire trip.

Once we got off the ship, it was like Carnival all over again. We got steel drums, dancers, and partygoers flaunting all over the place. In short, it was one huge party from the start of the dock to the end of the shopping centre. Since we got off the ship a little later than usual, we were struggling to make up for some lost time. We ended up going on a wonderful taxi ride with a mildly entertaining old Caribbean dude named Burgess who told us a lot of humorous anecdotes about his life. It wasn't necessarily talk about the island or anything of that nature, but that he was a successful cricket player who had his way with the ladies here and there. Super entertaining guy to ride with!

A lot of our stops had to be sped up since we were on the clock, so we stopped at this amazing spot called Dickenson Bay.

The beachfront was lined up with restaurants, beach bars, and water sport activities. Since we only had a little over an hour to spend here, the wife and I capitalized on it. We took a jet ski to the outer reach of this area called Half Moon Bay, which is this beautiful closed off area protected by a reef of idyllic crescent of fine white sand and azure sea.

Once we finished off here, Burgess took us to Stingray City where the family could play with stingrays and take pictures. I was timid because stingrays and people named "Steve" do not get along. I would say it was definitely worth visiting because everyone in my family had a great time. Cost was only $50 per person. An 8 minute ferry ride takes you to the sandbar and floating pontoon where all of the stingrays are swimming about. You are only waist deep in the warm seawater and the rays vary in size from about 15 inches across up to 5 feet across. If you want to swim and get up close and personal with stingrays, this is THE place to do it!

Today was one of the more exhausting days of the trip, but the most memorable in terms of how active we were. It's only the third day into our trip and we're just getting started!