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Turtle Farm question..

atnick11

By atnick11,
in Cayman Islands

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atnick11

atnick11

Posted
Posted

Hey all,

Looking for information from anyone who has been to the Turtle Farm. One of our group absolutely loves sea turtles, I was wondering if this it worth going to or is it cheesey....

What is available to do there? Is it worth spending the day there or just to make a quick vist?

Input please... :)

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lrmrtn

lrmrtn

Posted
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We went as part of an island tour and probably spent an hour or two there. I love turtles and absolutely loved it. We had a tour with a very experienced staff member who told us all about the turtles and you could hold them and feed them. I thought it was worth the trip but think you only need an hour or two there.

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bookbabe

bookbabe

Posted
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If you just want to see turtles, there's a cheaper ticket that lets you just visit the turtle tanks...most people have their fill in that area in an hour or so.

 

If you want a marine park experience (snorkel lagoon, bird habitat, other marine animals, etc.) then that's the more expensive full park ticket where you could possibly spend the whole day.

 

http://www.boatswainsbeach.ky/

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Jasalth

Jasalth

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My DS (10 on our upcoming cruise) LOVES turtles. Not a week goes by where he doesn't ask me if we can get a turtle as a pet.

 

Our last trip to GC we went on the Hell, Stingray, Turtle tour. For him, it was just not enough turtles for the hour or so we were there. This trip we are doing the full Boatswain Beach with the turtle snorkeling and such and have decided to forgo much else on the island.

 

The thing with the tours that just stop there with other stuff, you see the breeding tanks and that is about it. While nice and informative, we definitely wanted to give my DS more turtles this time around.

 

If you think spending 4 hours there after checking out their web site might be to much, check out some of the Stingray/Turtle only excursions which cut out some of the shopping stops for more time with the animals.

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celerystalker

celerystalker

Posted
Posted

More input, please! My friend is 33 and he loves turtles - Carnival has a tour called "Explore Cayman by Land and Sea" that is 60 per person - it has a nautilus portion, a rum cake stop, a stop at the governor's mansion and the turtle farm.

If we book ourselves, we'll have a $20 cab ride each way to the turtle farm plus $30 per person for the turtle farm only or $45 for the entire park.

 

I'm thinking the short excursion sounds awesome, but the first thing he said when he heard one of the ports was Grand Cayman was "There's a turtle farm there."

I don't want him to miss out on any turtle time.

Is there more to see about the turtles that you don't get to see on the short excursion?

 

I explored the website for boatswain's beach, but most of the other stuff doesn't seem to relate to turtles at all.

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drew sailbum

drew sailbum

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Only place I ever had a turtle burger was GC. Some of the turtles at the farm are being raised for food.

 

Actually almost all of the turtles are raised for food. It's not called a Farm for no reason.

 

Some rough calculations based upon publicly available numbers indicate 95+% of the turtles raised are destined for the dinner table. The exact number may be closer to 98%.

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  • 3 weeks later...
bguppies

bguppies

Posted
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Actually almost all of the turtles are raised for food. It's not called a Farm for no reason.

 

Some rough calculations based upon publicly available numbers indicate 95+% of the turtles raised are destined for the dinner table. The exact number may be closer to 98%.

 

Better than the natives hunting the wild turtles in the area, to fix their generational dishes though.

 

They might think we are cruel eating cows, or pigs or chickens.;)

 

Bill

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Cuizer2

Cuizer2

Posted
Posted
Hey all,

Looking for information from anyone who has been to the Turtle Farm. One of our group absolutely loves sea turtles, I was wondering if this it worth going to or is it cheesey....

What is available to do there? Is it worth spending the day there or just to make a quick vist?

Input please...

 

It is fantastic! I was there in June 2011 for the first time and I am looking forward to going back (for sure in 2013 - maybe earlier).

 

From my review ...

 

At the turtle farm we got to pick up the turtles, and even swim with them, though while swimming I only saw one (we don’t swim with the turtles in the holding pens). The area where you can swim with the turtles is huge and there are only a few turtles in the pond. However, I was able to get lots of good fish pictures. There is also a fresh water pool with a couple of water falls (one very kid friendly) for swimming without the turtles. I highly recommend the turtle farm tour. We saw turtles of all sizes, from seven month old ones weighing a few pounds to a 75 years old weighing over 600 pounds. My friends’ son had fun feeding the turtles, one of which he named “Fatty”.

 

Here are some photos ...

 

D7-4.jpg

 

D7-5.jpg

 

D7-6.jpg

 

D8-1.jpg

 

D8-2.jpg

 

D8-3.jpg

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Cuizer2

Cuizer2

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Does anyone know if they have a place where you can change into your swimsuit? I know we will shop some before our 11 am excursion and I'd like to be able to take my swimsuit instead of wearing it.

 

As I recall - yes. However, if worse comes to worse, there is always the restroom.

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  • 3 weeks later...
zenm

zenm

Posted
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I read in one of the CCL shore excursions for Boatswain's that changing area is available. Don't know if you need to rent them or if they're included with a ticket (either cruise-purchased or self-purchased).

YMMV

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bobnsons

bobnsons

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Better than the natives hunting the wild turtles in the area, to fix their generational dishes though.

 

They might think we are cruel eating cows, or pigs or chickens.;)

 

Bill

 

 

Natives? Do they still wear loin cloths?

 

Besides I'm not a native but I like fried tutle, tastes like chicken and I've seen more natives hunting them varmits down.

 

:D

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