It's been 14 years since I have been to GSC. Wow, it seems like only a few years ago. Prior to that, it had been 23 years since I have been here. Every other time we tried to come the weather was just too bad to tender and we missed the port.

HISTORY OF GREAT STIRRUP CAY

Great Stirrup Cay is located in the Bahamas and is part of the Berry Islands. NCL purchased this island from Belcher Oil Company in 1977 with the intentions of developing the island as a private getaway for their cruise passengers. NCL was one of the first cruise lines to offer this exclusive island experience for its passengers.

In 1988-89, NCL constructed 4 new buildings and the Dive center. In addition to this, a seawall was built to help reduce beach erosion.

In 2010, NCL embarked on a 2-year, $25 million construction program to make several enhancements to the island. The first enhancement was the construction of a new marina basin with 4 docks for island tenders, a new 8,500 sq ft dining facility with 2 bars and 4 picnic pavilions. The next phase is expanding the beach areas, installation of private cabanas and a new straw market.

There is a lighthouse, constructed in 1863, that still remains on the property and is fully automated and solar powered. It stands almost 80 feet tall and the light is visible for over 20 miles away.

There is also a helipad located on the island and there is around 250 acres of land here.

GSC has a daytime average temperature from December to April of around 75 degrees and from May to November it is around 85-93 degrees.

The average sea temperature from May to November is 81-86 degrees and around 77 degrees from December to April.

We headed for the tender (they are building a pier here and it is almost done, but not when we were here this trip).

Here is the pier they are working on. They previously had it open for cruisers to use but closed it down months before our cruise in order to finish it. I've read that not much activity was going on and people complaining this is why it was taking so long but the day we were here, there were plenty of people working on the pier and machinery.

I remember this little cove where we pull in from the last time we were here. So pretty.

Here is the tender and the elevator they have for handicapped people who cannot walk stairs. It takes you to the bottom floor to get off.

They do have beach wheelchairs they will transfer you into and then you'll check in your wheelchair. They seemed to have plenty of them too.

We stopped for pictures:

We headed out to the beach area to find a seat. The worker was pushing our handicapped person and said they had a pool there, but you could only use it IF you purchased a cabana. I've never heard of such a thing. Seriously?

The beach was crowded!

We did end up finding 2 chairs, which was fine because I had no intention on hanging around and wanted to snorkel. As I'm gathering my things to head out toward the water. Looking back at the beach and the family was still there.

I headed straight out to begin my adventure. It's a sandy bottom so honestly the snorkeling is not the greatest but they would have some sunken metal pieces down there with coral growing on it. I remember this from the last time as well.

I spotted a Pink Tip Anemone.

I really wasn't having much luck so headed all the way across to the opposite side where they had rocks along the jetty. There had to be something better over there...and there was.

You had to be really careful in this area because of the rocks along the side. A lot of them hung out over the water and if you were snorkeling and decided to stand or raise up, you could hit your head. I'm usually hyper aware of my surroundings when I'm snorkeling but it's easy to get caught up in all the beauty down below.

These would be the only Christmas Tree Worms I spotted today. 😟

I was far out at this point and still following the rocks along the jetty. Here is how far I was from the beach:

I had made it out to the ropes and started to head across. It was somewhat deep in this area and I started noticing more fish.

I had read years ago that they had a snorkel trail with sunken statues and you could book a "snorkel excursion" with NCL. But, this would be something you could do on your own. I had never got to see it last time we were here because we stayed pretty close to the shore because Sakari and Brayden were only around 5 or 6 years old.

It was really hard to make out what some of these things were when I found them and had to look them up from online videos. I didn't see half of what was shown in the videos and not sure if I just didn't look far enough or what.

This is a shell (or fan?) and has an anchor in front of it and a vase.

A large shell, treasure chest, a vase and some type of animal standing on its hind legs.

A large block with a face on it:

This was easy to spot: a large skull with a crown on it:

A very large Spotted Grouper came out from under the rocks ledge and had a Spanish Hogfish with it.

A group of very large blue Parrot fish swimming by. One of them was really large.

I was pretty far out and at this point I might as well just swim back to the ship. Geesh

A Stingray was far down below passing by:

I had been snorkeling for quite some time and decided to head back to shore.

After returning, I decided to walk around the grounds and take some pictures.

The bathrooms:

The beach area we were staying in...of course the most popular because it's the first place you come to. That's the norm for people... find a place as soon as you arrive and I was no exception to this game.

We came across a very large iguana when we were heading to get food. By the time I came back around to take pictures, he had multiple friends that had joined him.

The lunch pavilion, the covered area beside it where we ate, more seating in front of the buffet and the dessert building:

Heading out and over toward the beaches:

See how this area doesn't look crowded at all? We should have came down here instead and had the place to ourselves, although there was very little shade.

Zipline off in the distance:

They have paddleboard and mat floats for rent:

Well, this would be all of the tour since I wasn't allowed to be over by the pool area since I wasn't renting a cabana. 🙄

Eventually we decided to head back to the ship.

Goodbye Great Stirrup Cay. It's been an experience for sure. If we ever get a chance to come back we WILL visit the pool and we WILL go down the beach further.