Question on going to the Turtle Farm

We will be in Grand Cayman on our next cruise.
Being there before I have been on all the tours and seen the city highlights and Hell..
On our next trip, we would just like to take the kids to the Turtle Farm.
My question is, should I just stick with the $30 tour offered by the Cruiseline (and still see everything) or would I be better off to take a cab to and from?
Would there be that much difference in the cost?
I never thought, is there a fee to go into the farm?

Thanks
Mike

There is a fee for the Turtle Farm if you are not aprt of a tour. You may also want to check Ivan damage.

[quote name='Host Mike']We will be in Grand Cayman on our next cruise.
Being there before I have been on all the tours and seen the city highlights and Hell..
On our next trip, we would just like to take the kids to the Turtle Farm.
My question is, should I just stick with the $30 tour offered by the Cruiseline (and still see everything) or would I be better off to take a cab to and from?
Would there be that much difference in the cost?
I never thought, is there a fee to go into the farm?

Thanks
Mike[/QUOTE]

Mike;

We too plan on visiting the turtle farm; The admission is $6 for adults; Hopefully there will still be a turtle farm to visit. [url]http://www.turtle.ky/[/url] Hope this helps.

I still have a few months.

Any idea on what a cab fare would be?

I was there 2 weeks ago, I would suggest not doing the ships tour. I did the tour with the local vendors at the tender station, and it was fine. $15pp and it included the narrated tour of the island including seven mile beach, hell, turtle farm, rum store. The turtle farm admission was extra so it brought the cost up to $19 each. The van drivers will even drop you at seven mile beach on the way back if you want some time there. The trick here is to go with someone that already has some people in the van. The really don't want to leave until the van is full, and it could sometimes take 30 minutes to do.

[quote name='twofromcolumbus']Mike;

We too plan on visiting the turtle farm; The admission is $6 for adults; Hopefully there will still be a turtle farm to visit. [url="http://www.turtle.ky/"]http://www.turtle.ky/[/url] Hope this helps.[/QUOTE]
I'm not able to pull up this website. I wonder if its down due to the hurricane?

I'm sure the Turtle Farm took a hit. A lot of the island was flooded and it was without power when Ivan went through.

Another possiblity to consider instead of the ship's tour is the combination glass bottom boat tour and Turtle Farm Tour offered through Captain Marvin's. It is $30 for adults and cheaper for children.

I'm sure that many of the Grand Cayman websites are down due to the hurricane. I hope that the turle farm and that Capt. Marvin's folks are all ok. If you are interested in this, I suggest waiting a couple of weeks and then contacting them--Capt. Marvin's has a website and a toll free number.


Kathy

i read in another thread that the turtle farm is gone.

From stormcarib.com

A man had been out all day these are his observations.

"-best part is people seem happy, big smiles, just thankful to be alive and to see their friends again. so spirits seem good.
-landline service restored at the Marriott (he was adamant this was true!)
-he said it looks like a nuclear bomb went off, debris everywhere, furniture in middle of streets, most houses along by-pass near king's gym, had no roofs
-said it will be days with chainsaws, heavy equip etc. lots of work to do.
-shipping containers scattered randomly everywhere

-up to 50 ft boats still tied to portions of a dock scattered along roads
-happy to see aircraft over head
-navy ships just offshore

-[b]parts of the island that were "there" no longer "there" i.e sunset house, southsound demolished, turtlefarm gone, lost of west bay destroyed-sorry no specifics
[/b]
-NO DEATHS TO HIS KNOWLEDGE (doesn't mean there aren't any)
-widespread looting even during peak of storm
-the ocean still "HUGE"
-Most boats at sailing club washed off trailers, and are "gone"
a collection of boats mingled together on the "ice machine" side of the club house.
BUILDINGS:
-Butterfield house amazing, well intact
-Parkway still flooded, 5 ft h2o still there
-lime tree bay: boats on top of cars (lots flooding)
-Glass house destroyed, all windows gone
-Walker's House: fine, perhaps damaged cars in car park
-Bank of AMerica severe damage, TOwer bldg too
-old HSBC bldg corner of fort street mostly destroyed, one floor intact
-Hunter's Law Firm (forget new name) seems ok
-Offices where Quin & Hamson are seem ok.
-Courtyard marriott severe damage
-Poinsettia: D block no broken windows, bottom floor flooded to 4 ft, some leaking 2nd floor. A & B units basically windowless except boarded ones, bottom units in A all ok only 1 inch flooding
-COastLinetowers South church st structurally intact
-Sappphire Sail boat, tirmaran, parked on someone's front lawn
-Admiral's Retreat structurally sound, 5 ft flooding to ground flr.
-Mariner's Cove: blocking Shamrock Rd, traffic re-routed through Patrick's island, but it took over an hour so he headed back towards town
-Old Prospect Rd: 4 New Town homes badly damaged, furniture coming out front door.
-Homes in south sound in rugby club area washed away on seaside.
-Ritz carleton appears fine structurally, scaffolding still up

And the piece de resistance: The dome is still up at the Captain's Bakery."

We are sick over the loss of the Turtle Farm. I can only hope that some of the turtles were able to make it into the water safely.

Now I wish we would have visited here during our visit 2 weeks ago.

That was the second turtle farm that got wiped out by Ivan. The last hurricane that swept Grand Cayman took out the first one.

I'm afraid that Grand Cayman will be months, if not years, rebuilding what was lost.

I can't believe I was at the turtle farm just 11 days ago and now its gone. The good news(?) is that they were in the process of building a new, larger facility next to the turtle farm. Hopefully that is still somewhat in tact.

[quote name='Fila']We are sick over the loss of the Turtle Farm. I can only hope that some of the turtles were able to make it into the water safely.

Now I wish we would have visited here during our visit 2 weeks ago.[/QUOTE]
We asked them that question when we were there in early July. They said that the pools are set so that all turtles will have access to the sea and that, in the case of Andrew, very few turtles were killed.

The only pools that could be problems are the ones in which the new hatchlings were being developed.

I suspect that the turtle population of the West end and of 7 Mile Beach has just grown a great deal.

It'll be another 4 or 5 years to restart the farm again, if they decide to do so.

I hope we hear soon whether the Turtle Farm was destroyed.

Their web site is back up, but the web cams are just black screens.

Suzy

This is the dive shop right across the street from the turtle farm and it looks like they and the turtle farm are okay - see their Ivan message.
[url="http://www.divetech.com"]http://www.divetech.com[/url]

Mike,

My friend and I tried to go to the turtle farm on our own-and succeeded. Here is what we learned:

There is not a real stop for cabs to come when a ship is in port. The cabs are all near 7 mile beach and the stingrays. We had to get in a bus (really a 8-12 person van) with the locals. No one speaks English except the drivers (or so it appeared). I also got the impression that the locals that do not have to interact with the tourism of Georgetown practically hated us for being there. I did not feel safe at all.

We got to the turtle farm in one piece, went in and enjoyed the farm (by the way, you are on your own in the farm), and after an hour or so, we went outside to try to get back to the ship.

We waited for almost 30 minutes for another bus to come by (still no cabs). Once we boarded the bus (filled with locals), we went on a windng ride through the island.

This was definately the scariest part of the ride-as we were leisurely taking the island in, we noticed that we no longer saw water and had NO IDEA where we were. It was almost 30 minutes of riding around to people's houses before we saw the water and the ship again. It was at this tine that we realized that the driver could have told us to just get out and we would have been stranded (but I guess being stranded on the island would have been ok).

We got to the pier with less than 30 minutes to spare.

Although we arrived in once piece, I would not do this again on my own. We are going back to the Cayman Islands in November (as long as it is still there). I think this time, it willl be worth the $30 or the $15 of a local tour-but definately not just hopping in a bus to go there. The extra $ is for peace of mind and the comfort that you will make it back to the ship in time.

Hope this helps.

Thanks!