Help with renting a boat while in port

[skrysiak]

I am thinking of renting a boat for our stop in Grand Cayman can anyone tell me if they have done this. Thinking it would be nice to have the freedom. What are the pros and cons. Your help is greatly appreciated.

[stoddaj1]

We rented a 27' bowrider from Moore's Marine just last week. They have smaller boats as well. The cost was $700 for the day including all gas and oil. We had it from about 11:30-4:30.

 

Pros... took ourselves to Stingray City and anchored. We sidled up to another tour group and got to hold the stingrays. Fabulous!

 

Brought sandwiches off the boat for lunch then had the cab driver (cost $5 pp each way) stop at a liquor store where we bought beer, pop and water. Make sure you get them to bring a cooler with the boat.

 

Cruised around the shoreline and small inland waterways and got to see some spectacular homes.

 

Stopped a number of times, dropped anchor and swam.

 

Cons... We had intended on going to Seven Mile Beach but this proved to be too difficult to get to due to the reef. We thought we could get through but were VERY concerned when it got ultra shallow and very rough. This was a disappointment. The chart they give you was not very good.

 

Make sure you have someone with lots of boating experience. We had two with us so it was fine, but a bit nervewracking at times.

 

Water was very rough so if you have people who become seasick this would be a consideration.

 

Good luck.

[skrysiak]

Thanks for the info. If we do it we would probrably just stay around the shoreline have some boating experiance but not alot

[Capt_BJ]

Make sure you have someone with lots of boating experience.

 

That is the understatement of the year. Several (many) years ago a reporter for a major network took his family to CG, rented a boat and while off shore the boat conked out. He decided to swim to shore for help.

 

Help arrived and the boat was gone.

 

MANY MANY MANY hours of searching by US assets happened ... and during the time Mr reporter appeared on his network and told how ineffective and useless all the searchers were ... the US assets searching in Cayman waters for the family he'd abandoned .... (think he got a bill?)

 

AMAZINGLY his family was found after a couple of days .... and Mr Reporter was asked (on TV) to comment about 'float plan' and 'stay with the boat in an emergency' by the agency that found them . . . .

 

He's still on TV and I've never heard him get CLOSE to this topic again . . .

 

CG is an island out in the middle of the ocean all alone for a couple of hundred miles in every direction, they have no Navy, Coast Guard, Air Force or in other words significant search assets. You wanna rent a boat and head out into the open ocean? FINE

 

But don't blame my guys when we can't find you . .

 

Harsh - YES, but I'm a wee bit passionate about this one

[stoddaj1]

I will say that the rental company provided us with a cell phone and emergency #'s in a waterproof pouch which thankfully we did not need to use.

 

I would like to mention that there was no insurance against damage whcih we could purchase for the rental. As it turned out we dinged the prop which cost us an additional $300. As bad as that is, it could have been far worse. Lesson learned, no insurance... no rental.

 

We did have fun though!

[TurtleTagger]

Cayman does have some search and rescue assets - namely a police helicopter and the boats of the Joint Marine Unit. Generally considered fairly significant for the region. But you are still better off not getting lost at sea. :D

 

http://www.rcips.ky/portal/page?_pageid=2425,5616450&_dad=portal&_schema=PORTAL

 

[bookbabe]

Thanks for the info. If we do it we would probrably just stay around the shoreline have some boating experiance but not alot

 

That doesn't necessarily make it safer...there are still shallows and other underwater hazards along the shoreline as well as further out. Charter a boat that includes a crew if you're not really experienced in both operation of the boat and reading charts... :eek: You'll enjoy the trip a lot more if you don't have those issues to worry about, and an operator familiar with the area will usually give you a better tour than a downloaded list from some website... :D

[LBinGA]

But don't blame my guys when we can't find you . .

 

Oh, Cap'n...you made me smile! :D