Grand Cayman Things to Do

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There are a lot of recommended options for tours on Grand Cayman, many of which cater to cruise ship passengers so they know if your boat is diverted or is coming in late. We ultimately chose Captain Marvin's 2 stop snorkel tour because we wanted to get an early start and we wanted to see Hell and 7 mile beach in addition to Stingray City. Captain Marvin's also had a longer tour that included Hell and the turtle farm but I had read reports that it wasn't very clean and then I read that the turtles were raised for food and I lost my stomach for it.

Per their instructions, we got the 1st tender off the boat and walked over to Captain Marvin's office in George Town where we took care of the payment, $35 per person with cash, $38 with credit card. The boat dock that Captain Marvin's uses is just a short ride from the cruise dock, we made a stop to pick up some other people from their other location. The real Captain Marvin, who is 95 years old, doesn't do tours anymore but he was at the docks when we arrived.

The boat ride over was a little choppy and I'd estimate that it took about 20 minutes, the boat we used was a motorboat with 2 long benches on either side, we also saw at least one catamaran from another company which might be a smoother ride. One of the people on our boat said that this was the 1st day of their week's vacation that they could do the trip because of the water conditions, the next day I read that some cruise ships couldn't even dock in Grand Cayman. Once at Stingray City, the guides got into the water with us and showed us how to handle the stingrays without harming them and someone else took photos of our tour but since we didn't take the bus back to George Town we didn't see them or find out the charges. I had just purchased an underwater camera and my photos turned out pretty good. You can't wear anything on your feet here, no fins, no watershoes.

After the stingray city stop, we boated over to the Coral Gardens where we snorkeled with our guide.

The 2 stop tour lasted for about 2 1/2 hours including transport to and from George Town. They had water and fruit punch on the boat, the snorkel gear was included but we always bring our own masks and snorkels.

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For animal lovers Stingray City would have to be at the top of the must see list on Grand Cayman, it's a chance to interact with some stingrays who are not captive but are tame enough to touch and feed, the rays come because they want to, not because they are being held prisoner. The spot was originally a shallow place where fisherman came to dump fish guts before heading back to shore, the rays found this a delightful source of food and still do as most of the boat excursions that head out here will show you how to feed a ray if you want.

For snorkelers, you stand in 3 or 4 feet of water on a sandbar. You can't snorkel out to the sandbar from shore nor should you try to boat out there on your own lest you harm one of these magnificent creatures. We opted to use Captain Marvin's rather than a ship tour mainly because they left earlier than most other tours and we wanted to do several other things in Grand Cayman before getting back on the cruise ship.

Even with the early start at 8:30am we were there with 5 or 6 other small boats, there are plenty of stingrays but I shudder to think how many people can be here when there are a lot of cruise ships in port as we were the only one that day. If you are staying on the island, I'd highly recommend finding a day that the cruise ships are not there if possible.

Our guide showed us how to hold the stingray for a photo op, a kiss and a back massage, our guide used a stingray nicknamed Orion for this and he didn't seem to mind any of it, his reward was some nice slimy squid. And who knows, maybe he enjoys kissing the ladies.

The website below has a really good description of Stingray City and the do's and don'ts of snorkeling and diving with stingrays. The rays do have their stingers but if you don't mistreat them, they shouldn't have any cause to use it. Follow your guide and they will show you how to handle the rays without any harm to them or to you.

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Yes, it's a tourist trap, but to be so close to Hell and not go? We just HAD to send postcards to our friends and family, writing them such profound thoughts as "Didn't you always know that we were going to Hell?" or "It's hot as hell here" or "We've been to Hell and back", like thousands of people before us.

We were pondering how to get to Hell, besides the usual methods of debauchery, sin and vice, and mentioned that we wanted to go there to another couple on our Captain Marvin's trip and they offered to take us if we bought their postcards, a fair enough deal. So we all piled into their car for the 15 minute ride to Hell, somehow I always thought it would take longer and there would be demons poking me with pitchforks but the ride was uneventful. Hell made us laugh when we saw it, surely not the response the Devil was after, literally it's a post office, a couple of souvenir stands and a rock formation that gave someone the idea of naming this place Hell.

The hellish rock formations were formed by "acid rain and the consumption of the rock by carbonate-loving orgamisms"according to the signs on the platform overlooking it. You can't walk through Hell nor would you want to.

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Our 2nd stop with Captain Marvin's was the Coral Gardens (or at least I think it was, it could have also been the barrier reef as that's another stop they do) where we got back off the boat and snorkeled. It was a nice place to snorkel, we saw quite a few fish but they were mostly the usual suspects-yellowtails, sergeant majors, etc but we didn't see anything out of the ordinary except a tail less ray named Frisbee.

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In the mid 1600's Fort George was built to defend Grand Cayman from attacks by Spanish marauders from Cuba. The fear of piracy and other atatcks on the islands was enough for the Caymanians to understand the need for the fort. The fort was manned by local militia though they were never needed to defend the island from any invaders. During WWII it was used as a look out post; watching for German subs.

In the 1970's a developer wanted to demolish the fort and build on the land. The Caymanians objected to this and the fort is part of the Cayman Islands National Trust.

The Fort is just a shadow of what it once was with a few cannons, ruble and plaques.

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Grand Cayman is a beach kind of place. They have a famous beach called Seven Mile Beach which is a long beach on the western shore. It may not be exactly seven miles anymore - seven miles seems like a number that one uses for long beaches. In any case I have not been on it (I don't do beaches), but it is possible to walk the length of it as it is all public. Open grilling is allowed, and pets are free to roam the beach off leash, but loud music and public nudity are strictly prohibited.

The beach is world renowned for its beauty, recently receiving the honor of "The Caribbean's Best Beach" from Caribbean Travel and Life Magazine. Some small reefs are located just off shore which offer good snorkelling

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Everyone seems to think this is a terrific thing to do. So when we were here on a cruise ship, we did the Sting Ray City excursion. It was an island tour and Sting Ray City, but they took us to do the sting rays first which was an extremely inconvenient way to do it as you did the rest of the tour wet. I think this is over hyped.

We got on the tour bus and went to the boat dock. After the bus driver pointed out to us to come back to his bus (Bus #5), we all got off and onto a large pontoon boat (M/V Sun Rayz) run
by Kirk Tours. I wondered whether to bring my cane or leave it on the bus, but in the end, I took it. Leaving it on the bus would have probably been better - it was more of an encumberance than help. As we got on the boat, they handed out snorkeling vests to each of us.

We were already in our bathing suits. The lady at the excursion desk had warned that we might do the stingrays first and had also assured me that we would have a place to change on the boat. Well we did - sort of. There were two bathrooms. There was a little shop at the stern on the other side, and in the center a kind of bar area with a bikini clad blonde girl serving drinks.

As we rode out to the site, the guide got on the microphone and talked to us about sting rays, but because of his accent and the blurryness of the mike, we couldn't understand much of what he said. I put on my skin and got out my mask and snorkel, and underwater camera. We had to take off our shoes because the guide said that we might damage the sting rays by stepping on them.

When we got to the area, there were about 10 boats there and probably 75 people (conservative estimate) in the water, with many sting rays swimming about. The water was from chest to waist deep. We were told to keep our feet on the ground, but that was difficult for me because I float so well. I took some pictures, but all those people stirred up the sand, so I'm sure there aren't any good ones. The guide gave me a piece of squid to feed one of the rays with. It was sucked out of my hand.

Then Bob got on board and changed and I followed him. After I changed, I took some photos with my digital camera from the boat. On the way back they were selling hot dogs for $3 but we didn't buy any.

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We booked an all day tour with http://www.shoretrips.com/ which on our first stop took us out to Stingray City. This was a super cool excursion where we boated out pretty far and ended up on a sandbar where the ocean averaged around 4 feet deep ! When we arrived, we saw a few other boats loaded with people and tons of people in the ocean already. You could see the Stingrays easily from the boat...there were tons !