Gibbs Cay on your own

Is there a way to do Gibbs Cay with the ship's tour? Also how is the snokeling there?

We went to Grand Turk in Sept. and did the Reef and Rays tour through Carnival. We do not usually do the ship's excursions, but I could not find a decent local guide. We were pleasantly suprised with this tour. The guides were great, and I would do it all over again. First we went to a reef to do some snorkeling. The visibility was great, and we saw a good variety of fish. Then we went to Gibbs Cay for the sting ray portion. There were sting rays swimming all around us, and I was able to hold one of the sting rays. This would not of been possible if we were on our own. Where we were on Gibbs Cay was very sandy, and the snorkeling in this area was not very good, except to see the rays. It might be better in other areas around Gibbs Cay. Overall, I thought this excursion gave you the best of snorkeling and seeing the sting rays.

Grand Turk doesn't have a lot available booked on your own - not that I can find, anyway.

We did this same tour last December. For some reason, the tour operator didn't seem to be able to stop where he wanted to, so we went over to the island to see the stingrays, first. That was my 4th stingray excursion and I'd probably rank it in 3rd place.

We got back onboard, and went back to being just offshore from Grand Turk itself, just around the point from the dock. I'm not a swimmer, and hadn't tried to snorkel before, so I was proud that I was going to finally get in there and give it a try.

Unfortunately, I couldn't keep my fins on. :( By the time they got a pair that semi-fit, they were herding everyone back to the boat. I was pretty disappointed.

At this point, they haven't added the excursion that I want to do in GT (the horseback ride & swim - done it twice and love it), so if that isn't an option, I may try this excursion one more time. Or I may just lay on the beach!