Bike Rental

[jty1220]

As anyway rented Bikes in Grand Cayman? If so who did you go through and were you happy with everything ?

 

I read about this on another post and love the idea. This is the site I have seen so far and was wondering if anybody has used them, or another company.

http://www.westbayloop.com/

 

Thanks

[jty1220]

Is west bay loop a new company?

[boomonster]

I tried contacting them and heard nothing back. Kinda leery of booking if they cant answer an email. Otherwise sounded awesome to do may try again since we still have a month before we head out

[Mystiki]

Did you end up hearing back from them? This sounds lovely, something my husband and I would really enjoy! although the lack of response/reviews always makes me worry!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

[boomonster]

Did you end up hearing back from them? This sounds lovely, something my husband and I would really enjoy! although the lack of response/reviews always makes me worry!

 

 

Sent from my iPhone using Forums mobile app

 

No I've tried twice now. I tried contacting through their webpage and then directly through email and nothing. I am hoping maybe when we get off the ship there may be something at the port for them .

If I hear from them I'll let everyone know .

[Richard McKee]

Hello all cycling enthusiasts

 

Westbayloop Team here ......apologies to everyone who has difficulty getting us, we are NOT open yet and our website has only just gone live so we are still having problems with emails etc. We will make an announcement as soon as we are officially open for business which we hope is very soon.

 

Apologies to all fellow cyclists, the loop is a wonderful trip and I look forward to being open for business and getting you all round this beautiful part of Grand Cayman.

 

Contact me through the Westbayloop website and I will help you if I can in the meantime

 

Richard

Westbayloop http://www.westbayloop.com

[boomonster]

Hello all cycling enthusiasts

 

Westbayloop Team here ......apologies to everyone who has difficulty getting us, we are NOT open yet and our website has only just gone live so we are still having problems with emails etc. We will make an announcement as soon as we are officially open for business which we hope is very soon.

 

Apologies to all fellow cyclists, the loop is a wonderful trip and I look forward to being open for business and getting you all round this beautiful part of Grand Cayman.

 

Contact me through the Westbayloop website and I will help you if I can in the meantime

 

Richard

Westbayloop http://www.westbayloop.com

 

Do you have an expected date to open? Just wondering if we need to find something else to do in port.

Thanks

[tourdirectorterri]

Hello all - In November of 2014 I was able to take the West Bay Loop Bicycle tour. Here's my review of the service.

 

The bicycle tour I took with West Bay Loop was hands down the best activity of my entire vacation. I was on a cruise ship and was in Grand Cayman only for one day. Richard and Eddie made it a wonderful experience.

 

The service began with a shuttle ride from just outside the cruise terminal. Richard came to get us. He is very personable and friendly. The ride out to the bike area near the Cracked Conch Restaurant is short, only about 15 minutes.

 

Once we got to the bikes, Eddie, the guide and ride leader, made sure that each of us had a good fit on our bike. There were 7 people in the group I rode with. West Bay Loop has both men's and women's bikes. The bicycles are very nice beach cruisers. They have only one gear and when you want to stop you pedal backwards. They are super easy to ride and pretty comfortable. The bikes have nice padded seats.

 

The ride around the loop is mostly flat and the rest stops were well timed. The total ride was about 3 hours. Richard and Eddie make sure everyone has plenty of water. We were given water to drink before the ride even began to hydrate. During the ride, each time we stopped, Eddie reminded everyone to drink. He would top up our water bottles as needed with water he carried on his bike. The bikes have water bottle holders and a pouch for holding small objects. The guys took care of items that riders didn't want to have with them while we rode. They also have bike helmets for those who want them.

 

I'm so glad I got to do the tour with Eddie. He is a great guide. He is very knowledgeable about the island and has friends and family all over the West Bay area. We rode past his grandmother's house and he took us to meet her. She is 95 years old and very friendly. Eddie made sure we were safe as we rode and it was very nice not to have to try to follow a map. You can rent just the bike and get a map but it was great to have a guide. If you choose to just rent the bike, you get a map to follow of the route. There are signs along the route as well.

 

The ride is about 9 miles. Some of the ride is on small roads but much of it is along dirt roads away from cars and along the beaches. The ride felt pretty easy to me and I am only an occasional rider. A friend of mine who hadn't ridden in a long time came and she made it to the end of the ride. Eddie made sure everyone was ok with the ride and was very fun to ride with. He watched the pace of the first rider and kept track of the last rider to be sure no one was ever left behind. He customized the tour for us making sure we got to see the things we wanted to.

 

The ride goes along residential roads and you get to see some houses, it goes over to a couple of gorgeous beaches so you might want to wear your bathing suit. The loop goes through Barker's National Park home to mangrove wetlands which were amazing and almost totally undeveloped. You get to see a part of the island that is beautiful and untouched.

 

The bike stand is next to the Cracked Conch which had good food. They are right along the beach. You can dive there as well. There is a dive shop and you can dive in the cove and see Turtle Reef. Speaking of turtles, the bike stand is also near the Cayman Turtle Farm, and the Cayman Motor Museum. The Motor Museum has some awesome cars, but that's another review.

 

Getting back to our ship on time was no problem. Richard helped us calculate when we needed to leave and watched the time for us to be sure we were on the shuttle on our way back in plenty of time. He dropped us off right outside the cruise port. Our total time was about 5 hours from 9 am when the shuttle picked us up to 2 pm when we caught the tender back to our ship.

 

I booked this adventure directly with West Bay Loop from their website http://westbayloop.com/ . Richard was very good at communicating with me before my cruise. He told me when I got off the ship, to call him and let him know I was there. I found the information desk in the cruise terminal and they let me use their phone to call him. He was there to pick us up in about 15 minutes.

 

Richard and Eddie encouraged everyone to have a good time and enjoy the island, the ride and each other. We had a nice group of people even though we had not met before. The prices are very reasonable on both the rental and the tour and the price includes the shuttle to and from the cruise port. They accept US Dollars and they only take cash.

 

If you are planning a visit to Grand Cayman I highly recommend this bike tour. It is a fun way to see the West Bay part of the island, get some fresh air and enjoy the views.

[pennielz]

West Bay Bike Rentals is up and running. I highly recommend their bike tour!!! Below is a link to the thread where I have posted my review of West Bay Loop Bike Tour.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2137853

 

Pennie

[pennielz]

West Bay Bike Rentals is up and running. I highly recommend their bike tour!!! Below is a link to the thread where I have posted my review of West Bay Loop Bike Tour.

 

http://boards.cruisecritic.com/showthread.php?t=2137853

 

Pennie

 

 

Unfortunately, my post that I had linked to before was removed because I did not post it in reply to a question. So, I am replying to the question about Bike Rentals.

 

We did an excursion with West Bat Area Bikes on our last cruise to Grand Cayman. In addition, they rent bikes, as well. However, you might want to consider the bike tour they offer. It was a 9.5 mile bike ride around the West Bay Loop and it was so much fun and very easy! Richard McKee, proprietor, picked us up just outside the cruise terminal and drove us to the Cracked Conch Restaurant where he stores his rental bikes. On the ride over, Richard asked us about what would were interested in seeing on our bike ride. As we had been to Gran Cayman several times, we told him we were not interested in the usual tourist attractions. We said we wanted to see the real Cayman, to get a flavor of the island and island life. We met Eddie, our tour guide, at the Cracked Conch and he and Richard, again, discussed what we were interested in doing along our ride. We given a couple of beach cruisers and helmets and then we were off.

 

Eddie was a great tour guide. His family have lived in the West Bay area for over a hundred years. In fact, his family lived all along our route. He would greet his family and introduce us as his "friends from Florida". We even got to meet his 95 year old grandmother. A very sweet woman. She was very welcoming. Eddie showed us the ruins of his family's cooking house. It had been built over a hundred years earlier. It was very interesting.

 

As we headed towards Barker's National Park, we met Arad. Arad's family were the first to live in West Bay. We enjoyed chatting with him. And, just like Eddie's grandmother, was very friendly and welcoming!

 

Barker's National Park had very beautiful beaches! Very private and secluded. They were extremely clean! We learned that was because Arad and his family kept the park clean by picking up the trash left by visitors. Many of the beaches had shelters that were made from pallets. Local families will come to these areas of the beach and camp for a week or more. The shelters would be used for storage, sleeping and cooking. Many of them had shoes nailed to the outside. The shoes had floated up on the beach from the Caribbean. A lot of people were missing shoes!

 

We, also, go to see where Queen Elizabeth had visited when she came to dedicate the park in 2008. It was beautiful pier on one of the salt lakes in the park.

 

Following the National Park, we stopped at a local store for CayBrew beer. It was icy cold and very good! The store was a family run business and the lady running was very friendly. We enjoyed chatting with her while we rested and enjoyed our beverage.

 

We then moved on to Heritage Museum at the beginning of Seven Mile Beach where we met Rose, the proprietor. On the same site is the Heritage Kitchen. The food is supposed to be very good but, it is not open on Mondays and Tuesdays so, we did not get to try it. :( The museum has small gift shop with very reasonable prices so, we picked up a few souvenirs!

 

We rode along Seven Mile Beach and Hell on our way back to the Cracked Conch where we had lunch (on our own) before being picked up by Richard for the ride back to the Cruise Terminal.

 

While enjoying wonderful cracked conch sandwiches, Richard asked if we would be interested in seeing their local rum distillery. Since we love rum, we said yes! :p Richard drove us over to the Cayman Spirits Company where the owner, Walker Romanica, gave us a personal tour of the distillery. It was very clean and the process of distilling rum is very interested. We, also, got to taste, and buy, some great rums!

[chong67]

I am thinking of doing this West Bay Loop thing next Thus.

 

I can rent a bike and go on my own? I know its 9 miles.

 

Please provide detail.

 

Thanks!