Starfish Point

I've seen Starfish Point mentioned several times on Trip Advisor. Has anyone been there/done that or have good directions to find it?

It's near Rum Point. You'd need to take a tour to Rum Point or rent a car to get there on a port day. No taxis or busses there (well, you could probably taxi, but it would cost a fortune).

The area referred to as Starfish Point is actually a privately owned point of land called Ivory Kai. Many excursions and boaters stop just off shore there as you can sometimes see lots of starfish in the area. You cannot drive a car onto the property. There are big "no access" signs on the huge metal gates and posts. There is a "public" beach next door though (another vacant lot with a Public Beach sign) and you could park there and walk along the shore to the point where the starfish are. There are no facilities at all, and it's about a 50 minute drive from town. It's just down the road from the Kaibo, and it's about a half hour or so walk (5 min drive) from Rum Point.

On the map on this page - http://www.caymanislands.ky/activities/beaches/rumpoint.aspx - it's the tip of the bottom point of land below Rum Point, where it says "Water Cay" at the very end of Water Cay Rd.

It's just down the road from the Kaibo.

We normally eat at Kaibo Beach Bar, would we pass that and just look for the public beach sign? We have never gone further down that road but would love somewhere to chill in the area OTHER than Rum Point.

We normally eat at Kaibo Beach Bar, would we pass that and just look for the public beach sign? We have never gone further down that road but would love somewhere to chill in the area OTHER than Rum Point.

Yup...it's technically right at the end of the road if you keep going by the Kaibo. You can't miss the gates now, they're massive and kind of foreboding. :grin: The Public Beach sign is (at least as of today) on the lot just to the left of the gates. It's not, as far as I can tell, any kind of official public beach. (The official Public Beach is to the left of the Kaibo, as you're facing the water, on the other side of the condos.) The Kaibo's nicer, IMO. Both that public beach and Starfish Point/Ivory Kai are just vacant lots. I've never really understood the fascination people have with that place...but your mileage may differ...

Yup...it's technically right at the end of the road if you keep going by the Kaibo. You can't miss the gates now, they're massive and kind of foreboding. :grin: The Public Beach sign is (at least as of today) on the lot just to the left of the gates. It's not, as far as I can tell, any kind of official public beach. (The official Public Beach is to the left of the Kaibo, as you're facing the water, on the other side of the condos.) The Kaibo's nicer, IMO. Both that public beach and Starfish Point/Ivory Kai are just vacant lots. I've never really understood the fascination people have with that place...but your mileage may differ...

Awesome, thanks. The public beach near Kaibo is probably fine for us, but I think my son might like Starfish Point. Just looking for some options up that way (other than Rum Point) before we head back towards port. We've been to Grand Cayman several times (splitting our time between the Reef in East End and London House on north SMB) and snorkeled at Starfish Point once from a boat...but this is my son's first time in Grand Cayman. :)

The area referred to as Starfish Point is actually a privately owned point of land called Ivory Kai. Many excursions and boaters stop just off shore there as you can sometimes see lots of starfish in the area. You cannot drive a car onto the property. There are big "no access" signs on the huge metal gates and posts. There is a "public" beach next door though (another vacant lot with a Public Beach sign) and you could park there and walk along the shore to the point where the starfish are. There are no facilities at all, and it's about a 50 minute drive from town. It's just down the road from the Kaibo, and it's about a half hour or so walk (5 min drive) from Rum Point.

 

On the map on this page - http://www.caymanislands.ky/activities/beaches/rumpoint.aspx - it's the tip of the bottom point of land below Rum Point, where it says "Water Cay" at the very end of Water Cay Rd.

Thanks so much for the info! Not sure if it would be worth all that or not..:confused:

Starfish Beach sparked my interest....Sad there isn't transportation there.

It's interesting to see, but not much to do after 20 minutes or so. It's really just the sea stars themselves, and they don't do much! It's a wonderful side stop on many of the tour boats.

We stopped there on the way in on our last private tour. Was really neat for the kids.

The starfish typically stay deeper in the water, feeding on the sea grass. If you are lucky there will be some up in the sand that guides have grabbed and left in the sand. After a while, the stars will work their way back to the grass.

There were a few in the sand when we went that the kids were playing with. I grabbed the snorkel and went searching in the grass. Was able to find a couple more. It is about 9' of water and slightly murky. The sand area is really shallow, but drops off fast.

We arrived by boat, but there were people walking up from the shore. Our guide explained that there are no "Private beaches" in the Caymans. All shoreline is considered public. He said you could drive to the end of the road, park, and take a short walk to the point and be fine.

Our guide explained that there are no "Private beaches" in the Caymans. All shoreline is considered public. He said you could drive to the end of the road, park, and take a short walk to the point and be fine.

Technically, it's the shoreline up to the high water mark that is public. You need to stick close to the waterline to avoid being on private property. There are plenty of public beach access points, including the one described in my previous post above, that will keep you off private property.

Sorry to be sticky about this, but we have property there and have often arrived to find people set up in beach chairs in our yard or with their boat tied up on our dock...not fun...

Technically, it's the shoreline up to the high water mark that is public. You need to stick close to the waterline to avoid being on private property. There are plenty of public beach access points, including the one described in my previous post above, that will keep you off private property.

 

Sorry to be sticky about this, but we have property there and have often arrived to find people set up in beach chairs in our yard or with their boat tied up on our dock...not fun...

Uggh, yea that would get kind of annoying.

I am fron Texas, where there is little to no public land, so the idea of open beaches was completely foreign to me. Now that you mention it, you are right, he did explain that it was up to the high water mark.

Somebody a few posts down has a review of a tour with tour company Acquarius, which does a stop at Starfish Point along with a snorkel stop and Stingray City. Might be an option for you. Look them up, their tour looks pretty awesome, and seems reasonably priced especially for all that you get.

We were going to head to 7 mile beach and just hang there for our day in GC, but are now going with this tour instead.

Have fun!

We visited Starfish Point with Cayman Eco Adventures in March as a stop included in our Stingray City excursion. It was okay, the day we were there we didn't see many starfish but it was still interesting to stop, swim etc. Our day with Cayman Eco Adventures however was absolutely fabulous- great visit with stingrays and snorkelling stop. Capt Kevin was terrific and we would use them again.

I did a write up on starfish point along with pics.

You can find it at

Winenchocolate dot com

Under snorkeling and beaches

I can relate to this...

When I was young, I use to do the same thing...

Starfish Beach sparked my interest....Sad there isn't transportation there.

Cayman Safari seem to offer a tour there now.

We haven't taken that particular tour but did enjoy their original tour round the east end. We were supposed to go to Rum Point (not Starfish) but had to cut it out due to time constraints, mainly due to waiting for "no-shows" so I would be interested to do this new tour if we returned to Grand Cayman.