Cruisin’ Under The Sea

There were a bunch of excursions offered by our cruise line, many things we’ve done before or things we could easily do another time,  but a Submarine Tour?   That’s not something that comes along everyday, so we booked it.

We arrived at Grand Cayman Island and took a tender ashore, there was no pier for the Freedom of the Seas to tie up to.  A 10 minute run and we stepped ashore.  It took a while for our tour to get ready, but once it was announced, we walked a couple of blocks to the building the submarine company operated from.  Another short boat ride was required to get out to where the submarine was waiting.

We pulled up along side the sub, it looked just like a submarine is supposed to look except it was painted white, most every other sub I’ve seen is either dark grey or black.  But then, those subs don’t carry tourists.

              

              

The submarine has two hatches, one forward, one aft.  The group of 48 was split into two sections and sent to the hatches to board.  Once we got inside, everyone was excited to be able to see out of large port holes lining each side.

               

               

We cast off from the tender boat and submerged into the sea for our hour long ride.  Slowly, things began to appear.

               

The sub maneuvered all around the coral reefs that were teeming with fish and other sea life.  As usual, I was too slow to get shots of a couple of large barracudas that swam by.  But looking at the formations of coral and undersea plant life was amazing.

               

               

               

Marti enjoyed the sights as much as I did.

               

Now before you think that I’m a lousy shot with a camera (I usually am) and I goofed because all the pictures are blue, I’m not guilty (for a change).  At a depth of 100 feet, natural light doesn’t penetrate all the way down to that depth and red, orange, yellow and green colors fade away, leaving blue light that can filter down to that depth.  Underwater photographers that take pictures of coral use lights to bring out those colors.  Still, the views were awesome, even in blue.

The submarine was one of eleven built in Canada at a cost of $5 million each.  They are built with positive buoyancy and use electric motors driving propellers to force the sub under the surface.  If electric power was lost, the sub would automatically rise to the surface.  Pretty neat design, with safety in mind. 

It was nice to cross off something from our bucket list that wasn’t even on there in the first place. I guess you could say this excursion was the low high point of our cruise.  :c) 

The cruise also took us to Jamaica and Cozumel, Mexico, where we had more “standard” type tours and enjoyed them, too.  Too soon, the cruise was over and we were back in Florida.  Not to worry, in four months we’re taking another cruise out of NYC to the Caribbean again with my dad and Marti’s sister Gail, both who have never been on a cruise.  We’re going to be their guides, that’s our excuse and we’re sticking to it!

We resolved the tooth issue with a fast appointment with an Aspen Dental visit, which kept us on schedule today to drive across Florida to Suncoast Designers to get our fogged window fixed tomorrow.  There are a couple of dozen motorhomes here, ranging from entry level gas RVs to even a Newell motorhome, all needing window work.  It appears cheap windows are another corner that RV manufacturers cut.  We’re going to get a tour of the repair factory tomorrow to see  how everything is done, should be interesting.  Hope they let me take some pictures!

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