The bus is great deal

[travelbuddies]

I saw excellent reviews on tripadvisor and replied to some of them trying to find a tour company that includes the gardens during the week. I received an email from the warden of the blue iguanas (pretty cool, huh) who advised contacting cayman safari.

 

I received this response to my email from Shirley at Cayman Safari

 

 

Hi Susan and thank you for your enquiry at Cayman Safari! John at the Blue Iguana Recovery Program at the park also told me you had spoken with him about our tour! We do offer tours to cruise passengers and we generally customize the time and stops around the cruise ship schedule. I also had 4 others enquire from your ship the same day, however they have not yet confirmed. We only do small groups up to 8 or 9 but usually no more than 6. We require a credit card to hold the reservation however nothing is charged to the card until the day of the tour. If the ship cancels there is no charge. Our tours usually begin with pickup at the port at 8:30AM Local time for ships that come in at 7AM. We also try to have you back to the port by 2 or 2:30, however pickup and drop off depend entirely on your ships arrival and departure times which you would have to let me know. If you have any questions or if you wish to book a tour with us for Dec. 06Th please let me know!

 

Best regards,

 

Shirley

 

I decided because I was touring solo to take the RCI Tour 'Best of Cayman' a 5 hour tour which included Pedro St. James, QE II Botanical Garden, and Sting Ray City. It was very disorganized ran very late, we were suppose to be back at the tender by 2PM and arrived around 4PM. We were back on ship at 4:30pm. It did not include a meal and there was no time to eat or use a restroom. The tour with Cayman Safari above did not include sting ray city. Shirley explained that the Botanical Gardens and Sting Ray City are at opposite ends and there isn't enough time to do both comfortably and she was right. If you are attempting to go to the Gardens on your own I would not advise it. Taking the bus there is better for people staying in a hotel. There really isn't anything near the gardens.

[drew sailbum]

When I'm ready to leave the Botanical Garden, how hard will it be to catch a bus back to port? Also, what time should I head back to get in the tender line from the Garden? My ship is in port from 8am until 3pm.

 

Is the Botanical Garden the only place on GC to see the Blue Iguanas?

 

Thanks in advance! :)

 

Bus service in that area is infrequent and certainly not on any particular scheduled timetable. I strongly encourage those who want to visit the Botanic Park to rent a car or go on an organized tour that includes transportation.

 

Certainly the largest concentration of our native blue iguanas can be found at the Botanic Park. It is the home of an organized captive breeding program - the Blue Iguana Recovery Program. Great work they do.

 

There are some wild populations of blue iguanas, mostly in the interior parts of East End (and not easily accessed by road). It is not practical to seek them out there for someone visiting for the day from a ship.

 

The island does have many other iguanas - green iguanas. They are not native to Cayman and compete with our native blues for resources. Pretty much any iguana you see on the western end of the island is a green. Greens are easily identified by the broad vertical dark colored bars on the rear half of their bodies. Blues don't have those bars.

[Sonnydjoe]

the bus is cheap at just $2 and they go everywhere but rum point !!