Catamaran to Sting Ray City

Looking to book an independent tour - catamaran sail and snorkle .... can anyone recommend a good tour operator?

Nativeway Watersports is awesome and highly recommended on these boards.

I absolutely recommend Captain Brians. Used them in 2007 and will use them again in october of this year. Here's a link to their site:

http://www.cayman.org/captainbryan/

Thank you!

I've used both, Captain Bryan's as well as Nativeway, and Nativeway seemed more professional and really went above and beyond to bring us star fish, etc. to enjoy. JMHO.

We recently used Stingray Sailing and they were wonderful. Only about 20 people on a great catamaran with a terrific crew. Chip is the owner and he goes along with you. I highly recommend them.

Their website is www.stingraysailing.com.

We used stingray sailing & had a great experience on a catamaran! 2 stops which is plenty. The group had 20 people. I had a much better experience than the last time because it was a smaller group. Chip the owner, his captain & 1st mate took the time to teach us how to feed them, hold them & if you dared... kiss them. Although there were many boats in the water we still had access to many stingrays (including some big ones). We later snorkeled & the captain pointed out a moray eel, hand fed it & actually pulled it out of its waterhome. YIKES. It was a great day. Later we were dropped off @ The Reef Grilll @ Royal Palms. Try the grilled fish Sandwich! Yum!

I also highly recommend Stingray Sailing! We went out Wednesday with Chip and his crew, Captain Bert and Mark! Chip picked us up at the dock in a nice AC van. We picked up a couple at the Ritz and a family at the Westin. We motored out to the rays and we were probably the least crowded and smallest boat we saw, which is exactly what we wanted! We spent a good amount of time with the rays. Mark would help you hold them. Then we headed to the coral reef and Bert coaxed out a green eel! Totally cool and lots of fish and nice coral. We sailed back to shore and had Chip drop us off at Royal Palms where we saw Bert again.

The best part of our cruise. I highly recommend them!

:)I am planning on booking the Stingray sailing for a group of 12. We want to go to The Reef Grille/beach area for a couple of hours after the excursion. How long was the excusrion?

I believe it was 4 1/2 hours, but we did not leave right away. We had to wait for 1 couple to get off their ship(we would have left earlier if everyone was early). We did eat lunch, but did not have time to swim in the water b/c we wanted to get souvenirs.

I think we were out 3 1/2 to 4 hours. We had about 3 hours or so (maybe more) after we went out.

We booked w/ them for our cruise the last of June. They were awesome!! Pluses for a small boat & small crowd -- you really got individualized attention! IIRC, we left around 8AM and were back in town by 12:00. I had PLENTY of time to have a couple of drinks & shop @ Margaritaville!!

Has anyone taken this trip while onboard the Carnival Valor? I just want to make sure we have enough time with port times of 7-4 considering the time difference.

another vote for STIMGRAY SAILING they were great :D

Has anyone taken this trip while onboard the Carnival Valor? I just want to make sure we have enough time with port times of 7-4 considering the time difference.

Yes I was on it 7/19. Chip's wife will tell you to take the morning sailing because you will NOT get back in time for 4PM. The time difference works to our advantage. I believe GC is 1 hour behind. The line for the tender was out of control so don't rush back. It still took over 1/2 hour on line & boy was it hot. I used my towel as an umbrella & soaked a t shirt until the water was dripping.

Our private party of 13 went to Sting Ray City, Snorkeling and sailing with Captain Dexter of Fantasea Tours two weeks ago. He was at the dock at the appointed time and took us directly to his catamaran. We spent approx 45 minutes with the stingrays. Capt Dexter and his mate Simon were in the water with us. From there we went to a snorkel sight for approx 45 min - beautiful and numerous species of fish. It was then a beautiful & brisk 'sail' back to the main land. Capt Dexter provided fresh water for showering, drinking water and soft drinks. His catamaran carries 20 plus. Capt Dexter was born on Cayman Brac and has lived all his life in the Caymans - very interesting man. I highly recommend him.:):):)

How deep was water at Stingray stop.. last time I was there we were on sandbar and it was waist to chest high? i.e.didn't need to use snorkel etc.

We did Stingray sailing. It was great. Water was about 3-4 feet deep. Lots of personal attention if you want or as little as you need.

How does Stingray sailing compare to Buccaneer Stingray sailings?

We used Dexter's Fantasea, http://www.caymanislandsstingraycitytours.com/, on out last trip. We were picked up and brought back to the dock by the captain himself. We were a party of 13 and had plenty of room on board. I'm guessing the boat will hold around 20. We motored to the sand bar. Snorkel gear and sodas were included too. Captain Dexter and his Mate, Simon, got in the water with us and showed us how to pick the rays up and feed them. The also told great stories! We spent about an hour there then motored to a spot on the reef where we snorkel for about another hour. Then sailed back to his dock. It was the best time of the whole cruise. We got back in plenty of shop for a bit and board the ship.

Happy Sailing

Craig

How does Stingray sailing compare to Buccaneer Stingray sailings?

Did you use Buccaneer on your cruise?