MITSUGIRLY decides to CONQUEST new ports-complete pictorial review

[mitsugirly]

Does life get any better than this? Driving a boat in the beautiful crystal clear blue waters and a diet Coke in my hand!

 

 

 

 

The ship in the distance:

 

 

 

Along the way, we spotted a pod of dolphins. Of course by the time I got my camera out, they had gotten a little further away, so I took a video. It's really hard to see their fins come up and we were moving so fast, so I tried to mark the area they came up and slow the video down some. You'd probably have to expand the video to get a better look. But hey, it was an exciting experience to see them out there in the wild.

 

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When we arrived at Gibbs, there were 2 other tour boats there. However, they were getting ready to leave and we would end up being there by ourselves for quite some time.

 

 

Immediately Sakari broke out the mermaid fin.

 

[mitsugirly]

They did provide us with ice cold drinks and that was a plus for me of course.

 

The island is a little deserted island that no one owns (but maybe the government he said). But he did say that it could be purchased for $x million.

 

I absolutely love these little deserted islands with next to nothing there. It's the rustic type with no facilities, food or drinks. Just a deserted little island to explore and enjoy.

 

 

 

 

There were hundreds of little fish everywhere swimming with us...but no sign of stingrays yet.

 

 

 

 

Then we spotted our first small stingray (male) coming up to the shore.

 

 

 

 

[tandemcruzr]

I use a fisheye on my camera. I purchased it at the same time I purchased the camera and love it. The only issue I have with it is when snorkeling it makes the pictures darker than usual and I have to adjust the brightness. :)

 

Yes -- fisheye -- should have known.

 

Also, yes, that area to the right of the pier is relatively new.

[mitsugirly]

 

Then the bigger female rays would arrive.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Of course Sakari had her camera with her and she managed to take this very unflattering picture of me. A normal person probably wouldn't post/show it, but hey, we're an open book and goofiness is our game.

 

(Notice I made Sakari her very own watermark to let others know which pictures she took).

 

 

 

 

There were several trunk fish swimming with us.

 

 

 

 

Sakari just loves animals and nature so much. She sometimes worries me getting too close. I kept telling her to stay away from the barb and not make them feel threatened. She would swim right along side of them and with that mermaid tail, she did a pretty good job keeping up with them.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Before long, there were just stingrays everywhere. They just come right up to you.

 

 

 

 

 

 

This place really isn't known for it's snorkeling, due to a sandy bottom and sea grass, but it's sometimes good to divert to something different.

 

 

 

Sakari was having fun with her camera too, but I forgot to tell her to put it on the underwater setting and she hasn't learn to operate it past the turning it on and snapping a picture phase.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

I decided to head out and take some pictures. The hubby was busy talking "business" with the guide and they were engaged in a serious conversation at the moment.

 

 

I seen another boat pull up and people get out.

 

 

Our ship in the distance

 

 

 

 

See the lizard in the picture?

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

The hubby started yelling and motioning me to "come". I didn't make it very far at that point, but headed back to see what was going on.

 

The other groups guide had caught a stingray for others to hold and have their pictures taken with it.

 

 

 

 

 

There's that finger again.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Sakari was happy to show off her mermaid tail and skills to everyone that arrived at the island.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

She came up and was sitting in the water and the stingrays approached her several times to check her fin out.

 

 

The one thing I don't like about this newer camera is that it takes super crappy pano pictures. The older models are much better at stitching them together.

 

 

The hubby and I decided to take a walk along the beach

 

 

 

Beautiful sand and water

 

 

He's game for all the cheesy photos I take.

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

 

 

We were in a different area than where the boats are docked and there were stingrays over there too.

 

 

 

The other half of our group finally arrived.

 

 

Their guide caught a stingray for them to hold too. I'm not sure why ours didn't. He just sat on the boat almost the entire time.

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Gotta kiss the stingray for good luck. At this point, I think Sakari should have about 21 years of good luck from all the stingray kissing she has done over the years.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Say cheese!

 

 

 

This family was getting a family picture done...I guess they adopted Sakari at this point and I ask her if she had a new family. She just giggled.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

After everyone had a chance to kiss and hold the stingray, they let her go.

 

But I wasn't done. I had over heard the guide talking about how easy they are to catch, how to do it, and how heavy they are too. I decided I would try it on my own. I was successful in getting her to let me hold her one last time. Man was she HEAVY!! And HUGE!

 

Mitsugirly the stingray wrestler.

 

 

I gently let her go and she stayed there for awhile, probably wondering if that was the last of the attention she was going to get from all of us and then slowly swam away. It's a good day when you can say you actually caught your own stingray.

 

More attempts of trying to get a pano..still not working out well.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

I looked around and seen some arms frantically waving at me from the hill. It was Sakari, she was walking up, as she had seen some others go up that way, and I headed off to try to catch up with her and see the sites.

 

 

There's a little path that shows you where to head up at.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

The cactus plants were starting to bud. Oh how I wish they would have been blooming already.

 

 

I really hate walking uphill. I get out of breath and I'm so out of shape. Some other kids were coming up the hill and I had to make an excuse to stop and take a picture so they would go around me.

 

 

It was beautiful up there.

 

 

Look how rough the water was on the other side of the island. Yet it was so calm on the side we were on.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

This is how she felt about the day!

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Thrilled2012]

Mitsugirly the stingray wrestler.

 

 

 

 

Wow! Ah-May-Zing!!!!!

 

Since it was our first time in Grand Turk I really wanted to explore the island. You told me that you got to hold a stingray but I guess I didn't "grasp it". But as they say 'a picture speaks a thousand words'. We should have come with you! Incredible :hearteyes:

[mitsugirly]

 

We decided to head back down and going down is always easier than going up.

 

 

My floating child. She thinks she's a bird at times, this proves either she's part bird or she can levitate.

 

 

 

Ahh, back to normal...

 

 

Sakari having one last swim and you can see some of the rays in the background, still swimming along the shore.

 

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It was around 11:45am and it was time to head back. We hated to leave this little slice of paradise and we had a good day. Our tour was supposed to be 3 hours long. As anyone knows that has done any type of tour, the time they give you is usually from start to finish. Ours started at 8:45 and it was now 11:50am. Oops, looks like we are getting a little more time and we still had the ride back. No complaints here.

 

We packed up our things and climbed on board and away both of our groups went.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

 

Our tour guide said he was originally from Cuba I believe. I have the worse memory. He told us a lot of facts and information about the island, himself, the company and his jobs. I just can't remember all of it.

 

 

Within site of the ship now.

 

 

It looks like Sakari took the same picture, only closer.

 

 

She managed to get a really good picture of th whale tale.

 

 

[mitsugirly]

 

By the time we pulled back up to the beach, it was 12:15 and our tour had officially ended with a total time of 3.5 hours.

 

 

On our way back to the port, Sakari noticed some horses and had to go take some pictures.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

We decided to head to the pool for awhile. There wasn't much time left in port and we were going to push it to the max.

 

We put our things down and headed into the FRESH water. Ahh...no more salty skin.

 

 

 

 

 

Well hello there hubs up there above the water looking down at me!

 

 

I was captured.

 

 

While swimming, we managed to locate Thrilled and fam and hung out with them for awhile and then decided it was time to do a little shopping before heading back to the ship.

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

I had told Sakari, since it was her birthday, I would allow her to pick out something special from one of the gift shops. After that, we were on a mad hunt to find the "perfect" gift. We shopped and shopped and shopped and then I just started picking up things "Here, what about this? It's pretty"..."nope". "Well what about this cute little thing?"...."nope". I didn't think it would ever end. Then the hubby spotted it...the perfect gift. However, we weren't going to "suggest" it as we had been doing. We were afraid it might jinx us. So we followed her until she spotted it, looked at each other, and we knew....she started jumping up and down..."this is it, this is it, I want this". Mission accomplished!

 

 

 

 

Finally we were able to head back to the ship with her present in hand. This set me back $30, but it was worth it to see the smile on her face.

 

There was a lady with 2 children walking down the pier toward the ship. She was trying to get pictures of them with the ship in the background...I offered to help and when she turned around and seen it was me ....hehe....surprise Thrilled...it's me! Now I feel like the stalker.

 

We talked while in line and the kids hung out. Beautiful family and such wonderful kids.

 

We split up after getting on the ship and headed to our rooms to shower.

 

Our neighbor had decided to put sticky notes all over their door. It was hilarious.

 

 

When we arrived, we had our towel animal for the day. Once again, super weird to see this during the day.

 

 

Sakari took a picture of her peacock.

 

 

 

 

 

 

[mitsugirly]

Ok, I'm going to take a break. I need to get in the shower and get ready for the "day"...since it's already 2:30pm here.

 

I'm a new grandma again...my oldest son, Kenny, just had a baby this morning and I need to get ready to go up and see the new addition to the family.

 

I hope everyone enjoyed our day at Gibbs Caye and I will continue later today/tonight.

 

Thanks for joining.

[aztekpm]

Congratulations Grandma and to all the family too!

[Destaw71835]

Congratulations on the newest addition to your family!

 

 

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