Excursion needed for Stingray City?

[-ClevelandRocks-]

Is this just a beach w/Stingrays or some privately run operation?

[nlond]

Is this just a beach w/Stingrays or some privately run operation?

 

We just returned from the Jewel of the Seas and took a private excursion to see the Stingrays. They take out out to a sand bar - the water is about waist deep. The Stingrays swim all around you. It is very cool. We booked with Moby Dick Tours on line but they did not go out that day so they hooked us up with Stingray Sailing. They have a catamaran that was very comfortable. They had good equipment for snorkeling after we went to the Stingrays. I would highly recommend them. We had never taken a non-ship shore excursion and decided to try it based on the port, time of day of the excursion and review of both Moby Dick and Stingray Sailing. Have fun!

[cruisingwiththe family]

We were planning on going with Moby Dick Tours. What happened that they did not go out as expected. That makes me nervous....

[carters4usm]

We're be there in 2 weeks and am really curious about the water temps right now. How cold were they? Thanks.

[Perstef81]

We're be there in 2 weeks and am really curious about the water temps right now. How cold were they? Thanks.

 

The water wasn't really warm, but as long as the sun was out it was just fine for swimming. Definitely bring a towel to warm up with if it gets windy on the boat ride back to shore.

 

I just got back this week and we went out with Frank's Water Sports: I wrote a review on Trip Advisor if you're looking for a small operator to go with we were happy with them. They'll also drop you off else where than the port if you're interested.

[K L B]

yeah its not a beach at all. its a sandbar, and it's quite a way out. you need to have someone take you out. We did ours with stingray sailing, and it was fabulous. I highly recommend them. They don't pack the boat with people, its friendly and much more personal than some of the other boats we saw. Because the group was small, we were sort of off by ourselves and not with the insane crowds that were on the cruise ship tour. http://www.stingraysailing.com/

[GAPinkLady]

We did this in May last year, but we used Captain Marvins. They took us to a spot to snorkel for a while and then to the area with all the sting rays. It was pretty cool. Took me a minute to get comfortable with the sting ray's, but it was fun. I think it was about $35 per person. You can book it online at captainmarvins dotcom. Their office is a short walk from the port.

[JRA1708]

Do they have set times or do they work around your ship docking schedule? Plus, when exiting or reboarding does the catamaran have steps with a railing or is it a ladder where you have to pull yourself up?

 

thanx for any input :confused:

[K L B]

Do they have set times or do they work around your ship docking schedule? Plus, when exiting or reboarding does the catamaran have steps with a railing or is it a ladder where you have to pull yourself up?

 

thanx for any input :confused:

 

http://www.stingraysailing.com/1280x960/ladder%201280.jpg

 

that's a link to the pic of the ladder on the stingray sailing boat. It's an angled ladder, but it goes fairly deep on an angle into the water. you don't have to pull yourself out.

[slstauber]

Although I was unable to take this tour, due to back ups with the tenders from our ship, I found this to be one on the best deals. For $35 there were two stops. One at Stringray City and one at a place to snorkel and observe the tropical fish. For the price you couldn't beat that deal. Their ship looked very clean and well equipped. They were GREAT to deal with, and I hope when I get to the Caymans again I will be able to make their tour. You can find the listings and prices by searching Captain Franks Water Sports Grand Caymans.

[MsHoo]

We sailed on the Carnival Legend Dec 2012. We privately booked Moby Dick for the Stingray City excursion. They are very professional. We got off the ship pretty earlier even for having to tender to the port.

 

One thing that I noticed was that they put the snorkel masks in a big tub with sanitizer after we used them. A company that we used in Belize just kind of threw them on the dock and we picked them up. No idea if these were sanitized and I thought that it was really nice to know Moby Dick's were. I never even thought about how unsanitary the snorkel masks could be. Especially when the Belize tour guide commented "the greener the cleaner" meaning the greener the spit/snot whatever the cleaner your snorkel mask would stay. Just sayin'.... :cool:

[nklpikl]

We just returned from our cruise. We booked through Franks WaterSports in Grand Cayman. There was 16 of us cruising together so we just rented the whole 46' boat for about 45/pp. We went to stingray city and two snorkeling areas. I would highly recommend Frank. Even the people with other groups still came over by Frank because he was so amazing with the stingrays. Great people!

[mrsfuzzmo]

It is not a privately run operation. It's more of an area. If you wanted, you could rent a boat and go there yourself, if that's what you mean. Most people get there on tours, private and ship run, some on boats, some on waverunners. Boats come and go all day, so the most action seems to be in the morning when the stingrays are hungry. They flock around like sheep when they know there is squid coming at them.

[Bucknut613]

Let me begin by saying we have never been in the Caribbean, snorkeled or anything like this before.

 

We booked the Rays, Reef and Rum Point tour through Nativeway. This by far was the highlight of our cruise and HIGHLY recommend them!!

 

The reservation process was simple. I emailed through their web site and got a response from Sharron within 24 hrs and we were all set. I did this about a month before getting there.

 

We were in Grand Cayman on Jan. 25th. Were were to meet at 9:00 off the tender. We actually found Eldon around 8:30 and he pointed us to meet him in a gazebo in about 30 minutes. That gave us some time to run across the street and do a little shopping which was perfect. At 9:00 he came and got us and walked us around the corner to the van area and loaded us (4 of us) into the van and let us know he had to go get a few others from another ship. There were 5 ships in port that day. He was back in about 10 minutes with 4 more people. Happened that the other people were from very close to where we live so it was fun to hang with them. On the way to the marina, Eldon pointed out various things and was very informative and pleasant.

 

We arrived at the marina and were handed off to our Captain and his deck hand for our tour. Andrew (1) was our Captain and Andrew (2) was the deck hand. Both of these fine young men were great!!!! Very nice, informative and made sure we had a great time throughout the entire trip.

 

After a brief welcome from them and explanation of what our schedule would be, we were off and cruising. We only had us (8) tourist and A&A. We took the offer and sat up with Andrew and he drove us our to Sting Ray City and glad we did. The view was awesome.

 

A short trip and we found ourselves approaching Sting Ray City. First thought was thank God we were not part of the other boats we saw there with 50-100 people!! Andrew found a spot, backed it in and threw anchor. We were soon in the water. Andrew (1) quickly got a ray and gave us instructions on how to hold them and showed us the barb and all that stuff and what to be careful with. He then helped each on of us with handling a ray. We got to hold it, had to kiss it and he then would take it and put it on your back like a blanket. Truly and amazing experience. After we all got a chance to do that, he got some squid and showed us how to feed them and we each got to do that. After that, he got us some snorkel gear and we got to use that for a while. We were out there for about 45 minutes which was plenty.

 

Here are a few pictures from Sting Ray City. I bought and underwater camera but unfortunately have lost the film. Makes me sick!!! Also, I read on some of these threads about them "jumping into" your pictures or trying to sell you a CD of pics they take. We had no issues with either one of these at all! Actually, we enjoyed A&A so much, we wanted them in our pictures because they were an important part of why this was so much fun.

 

 

 

 

[Bucknut613]

A couple more pics...

 

 

 

 

Me & Andrew (1)

 

[Bucknut613]

After we ll got back in the boat, we took a short cruise. Andrew (1) threw the boat into neutral, jumped down, grabbed a mask and dove into the water. A few minutes later he popped up and said, this is good!! He had parked us over Eugene Reef. Let me state again, I have never snorkeled before and did not know what to expect. Andrew got us all flippers and we had our mask and snorkel from Sting Ray City and we all got in. It was amazing. Tons of colorful fish and coral. Nothing huge but lots of them. We all got to go on our own. After a while, Andrew (1) who was in there with us called me over to the other side of the reef. I got to watch him dive down about 10-12' and watch him jab at something underneath some of the coral. Next thing I know, he pulls out this huge lobster. Really cool!! He brought it back to the boat and let us know it was lobster season and each boat is able to catch 6 a day. This was the only one he was going to catch and it was going to make a nice lobster salad for himself that evening for dinner. I had take pictures of him catching it but as I stated before...lost the freak'n film!!!!

 

We spent another good 45 minutes snorkeling. It was plenty. Most of us were not experienced at it and had enough salt water up our noses!!

 

From there, he took us to another spot and dove in again. He emerged with a couple star fish. In the area we were in, there were a lot of them and he offered to let us get back in and snorkel some more but we were good with just seeing them on deck. He explained a lot about them, poured some water over them to make sure they were good to put back and he did just that.

 

The other 4 people we were sharing the trip with, there trip was over with that. We still had Rum Point to go. There was another boat close to us that was there just to pick them up and take them back. Andrew then gave the 4 of us a menu. It was our lunch options for Rum Point. Myself and Don chose the grilled Mahi Mahi while the ladies chose the fried fish. Andrew called our orders in and we were off to Rum Point.

 

Really the only picture I have on this section of our excursion. I'm hoping the other couple we went with got some good ones with their underwater camera and I will post later.

 

Starfish..

 

 

[Bucknut613]

We pulled up to the pier at Rum Point and Andrew gave us a time we needed to get back to the boat and head back (more on this later). We got to the beach area and there was a table reserved for us on the beach. We all went and washed up and when we got back, lunch was on the table waiting for us. It was excellent!! They gave you a glass of iced tea with it. I went to the bar and ordered us a couple beers and diet cokes for the ladies. $20...little steep. We got the Cayman beer and it was very good.

 

 

Fried Fish...

 

 

grilled Mahi Mahi with some kind of sauce on it. Again, delicious!!

 

 

[Bucknut613]

After eating it was time for some R&R, laying in hammocks, swimming, walking the beach, checking out the gift shop and another beer!!

 

The place was post card beautiful!

 

 

 

 

 

[Bucknut613]

The Bar...

 

 

The boat...

 

 

The Beach...

 

 

[Bucknut613]

We were laying there (actually I think we all took a quick nap) and realized we didn't have a watch or any idea what time it was. We agreed we were ready to pack up and head back to the boat when we heard an air horn. It was Andrew calling us back to the boat.

 

We loaded up and had a nice cruise back towards the marina. We all got to sit up top and had a great time cutting up with everyone!!

 

 

While were were at the beach, Andrew (2) had caught himself some dinner while waiting for us on the pier. He used some of the time on the way back to clean his catch...

 

 

[Bucknut613]

We got back a little early so Andrew took us through some channels to show us some of the beautiful home in the area. This was really really cool!!

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Bucknut613]

 

As you can see..we were ALL having fun!!!

 

 

We made it back on land, safe & sound!! Well, except for Andrew's dinner!!!

 

 

 

After saying our goodbye's to our new friends, we were picked up by Eldon's better half Sharron to be taken back to the ship. Sharron was as nice as everyone we have dealt with so far. I was very interesting to hear her story on how she met Eldon and moved to Grand Cayman from NY. It was a fun ride back!!

 

Like I said and as you can probably tell from my story and pictures, this was by far the highlight of our cruise!!! I would do it again tomorrow if I could. I will not hesitate if I every get back there again to use the services of Nativways!!

 

Thanks for the great time and memories Eldon, Andrew (1), Andrew (2) and Shorron!! I hope our paths meet again!

 

I'd be happy to answer any questions anyone has!

[levardis]

You are awesome! Thanks so much for the review. Wife and I are headed out on March 4th. Can't wait!

[calex1976]

Great review and pictures. From what I have read of Carnival excursions you got a much better trip. Next time I go to the Caymans I will be booking a private excursion. Thanks for the great review.

[milhouse0506]

Thanks for the awesome review. Just booked this same tour today! Looks like a blast!