Nativeways Reef, Rays, Rum Point tour- Miracle 12/20/2005

[GarageTwoThree]

Hey Guys,

 

Just came back from Miracle today and had a great time. Anyway this is about our great time at Nativeways and Grand Cayman in general. We arrived about an hour earlier than our tour started. We found a nativeways worker and he said to meet up in an hour by the big rolex sign. Since we had our own snorkel equipment we walked down (short walk) to Eden rock Dive shop. DO NOT STOP AT A BAR THAT JUST SAYS EDEN ROCK. Keep walking down to the blue building. Rent a locker there for $5.00USD if you need to for like a towel, back back, etc. Now this place doesn't look tropical by any means and faces the ships directly, but don't let it fool you. Walk down the steps into the water and start snorkeling around. Bunch of fish and some coral, rocks, fans, etc. Nice little mini excursion before the real one and real cheap. After about 35 mins we showered at the dive shop, dried off and walked back. People were waitin under the clock for nativeways too. Guide came and led us to air conditioned Toyota Hiace (8 passenger Japanese van). We took our ride down to the docks to the boats. There was two boats and our was dedicated to the Miracle. We had a total of 32 passengers on board. There I met Islander from the forum also known as "Full Monty" Felipe (He knows whats up :D) and his family. We chatted and the ride began. We were served water and punch and quickly rode to the Northern Barrier reef. The currents were strong and soon my girlfriend boarded the ship again because they were too strong for her. One of the crew members led me and others one or two at a time to were a nurse shark was at and the picture came out very nice. In fact all the reef pictures here were great ( I suggest the Fujifilm underwater disposable). After a while here we were put back on the boat and took to stingray city(not a far at all). Stingray city is shallow and has no currents really to speak of. The crew members would grab some stingways and sometimes they would get dropped. After a while Felipe, me and the crew members were jumping after the rays. This is not as easy as it looks. After kising, massaging, feeding, etc, etc we left and headed to Rum Point. Rum point is great and the food is pretty good to. The only thing I hated about it was getting an alcholic beverage there. All prices are in Cayman Isl. Dollars and also does not included the automatically added 15% gratuity. Whatever the conversion rate was two rather average size Pina Coladas came up to around 21.00USD :(. This was a shock and you get change back in CID so pay in the smallest bill posible. After about 1.5 hours at Rum Point due to our ships leave time we headed back. The ride back was bad for my girlfriend and I since they put more people in the van than what is could hold. We had to stand and the driver was not good at driving stick shift. We did get back in time and we were not the last tender either. My overall opinion of Nativeways?...FANTASTIC! We have a picture of the cruise ship tour with probably over 150 people that had goofy vest around their necks. Don't be goofy book Nativeways.

 

Carlos

[eboon]

Did you bring clothes to change into have swimming with the rays and snorkeling?

[drew sailbum]

Pay for those drinks with a credit/debit card, and you won't be dealing with any CI change. In Cayman, cc charges are posted to your card in US dollars, so no conversion fees from the cc company.

[islander1763]

Hi Carlos; It was a great trip and I also back you in regards to Nativeways. let me add that the courtesy of the crew was outstanding. They all went out of their way to accomodate and try to please all as much as possible.

 

Islander1763

[rileyreb]

my husband and i were on the tour with you and just wanted to add my 2 cents.

we loved it and it was so much fun. the crew was great and entertaining. the water was so clear - we should be getting our pictures from the underwater cameras tomorrow.

i also have a picture of all the goofy people wearing the vests, masks and snorkels in the waist high water!

 

my only complaint: the tour was overbooked. we had 32 on the miracle boat and their website says no more than 25. the buses were cramped, the boat was full and it was a little difficult to snorkel and get around at the reef without running into someone or fins.

 

and if you plan on making a stop at the Tortuga store by the pier area, do it before the tour because it's a whole day tour. we had an hour to kill before the tour left and placed our liquor order.

[CRUIS'N JJ]

suggestions appreciated: swimsuit with coverup, shorts, is there

a place to change at Rum Point... Tevas or water shoes?

thanks!

[rileyreb]

i wore my swimsuit under my clothes and my husband wore his trunks and a tshirt. there was a place at rum point to get changed but by that time we were both dry and just put our clothes back on to cover up.

you can't wear shoes with the stingrays and you wear fins at the reef. my husband had on watershoes and i had on crocs. the beach at rum point was rocky imo, big rocks and i thought shoes were needed in the water.

[GarageTwoThree]

Rum point is rocks so I suggest walking down the pier and sort of jumping in the water down a bit, but you still will need to walk back in..lol. Bring your own towel and just dry off on your way to Rum point. Bring a tshirt and where your swimsuit(guys). Girls can wear top and bottom that covers their swimsuits. While it might have been more than what their site says, it was less than those damn cruise ship ones..lol. I know Islander found a Conch at rum point and I found a dead lobster..lol.