Boatswain beach and turtle farm

[nattie]

Need advice on this. Is it worth it? My almost 2 yo LOVES turtles and I think he will enjoy the touch tanks a lot. Also they offer a beach experience (albeit man made) in the same setting and that is what I wanted to combine together anyway.

 

I know that GC is "stingray island", but we don't want to take DS snorkeling and we have enjoyed stingray experience before in Moorea(probably can't top that one anyway).

 

Have any one recently been to the Boatswain beach and turtle farm? How crowded is the place? How far is it from the docks? I was thinking just tacking a cab there and paying admission fee versus doing ship excursion. Any other suggestions?

 

Any and all advice is highly appreciated.

[photomuggle]

For a 2yo, I think the Turtle Farm would be an excellent experience.

 

Both my wife and 4yo got a kick out of being able to touch and hold the baby turtles (yearlings), and later expressed that they had the chance to swim with the turtles. We did not do the beach, but it did not appear to be crowded at all.

 

The Turtle Farm, as I recall, was less than 15-20 minutes from the dock.

 

I think your idea of making the Boatswain beach the primary stop and doing it on your own is just excellent. Enjoy!

[Lady_Jag]

We were considering doing the exact same thing in April. The Boatswain/Turtle Farm web site offers a 20% discount on admission if you buy tickets online, but I'm afraid to prepurchase them them online because of the possibility of our ship missing the port altogether. :eek:

[nattie]

Thank you for replies!

 

I wouldn't chance on prepurchasing anything either, never know how the conditions are going to be. I figured I am saving some money by doing it myself anyway.

[pjinaz]

I am planning on doing this in a couple weeks and have called Botswains directly and was told that the tickets are refundable. All I would have to do is email them for a refund if we couldn't make port. I was also told I could use their shuttle from the port for free with the online ticket purchase.

[jorapp]

DH and I just returned from Voyager of the Seas, which stopped on Grand Cayman. We took the ship's excursion to the turtle farm and loved it.

 

The farm is well laid out with a huge tank with a breeding beach, and many smaller tanks were the younger turtles are separated by age group. There are also swiming pools/encounter pools, a predator tank with underwater observation window, an aviary where you can feed the birds, snack and gift shops. Boatswains beach is right across the road and was not crowded in the least.

 

We think this is an excellent excursion for anyone curious about turtles or with children.

[Lady_Jag]

I am planning on doing this in a couple weeks and have called Botswains directly and was told that the tickets are refundable. All I would have to do is email them for a refund if we couldn't make port. I was also told I could use their shuttle from the port for free with the online ticket purchase.

 

Awesome! Thanks for sharing! Since I never got a reply from the tour company I emailed, I might just get our tickets online after all. I forgot all about the free shuttle they offer! :o