Help with snokling advice on Grand Cayman

[captainmac]

I will be with a group of 4 on NOS in Grand Cayman on 5/18. We would like to go snorkling, but have no real interest in the whole sting ray thing. We have not booked a tour through the ship, in large part because of all of the posts that seemed to indicate that we would have no trouble setting something up after we tendered in. We are not all experienced snorklers, but are all reasonably fit and at least moderately adventurous, and are all comfortable in the water, good swimmers, etc. We are all late 40s. What I'm seeking is some advice as to where we should go to snorkle, whether we are better off hiring a guide/boat/whatever, or just do some shore snorkling, and if we should hire someone, who that should be. Money is not really an issue, I don't think. Any help is greatly appreciated.

[boatbunny]

captainmac,

 

Here is a website, part of Island Marketing (an excursion company) that can give you an overview of the more popular snorkeling areas on GC.

 

http://caymanislandsdiscounts.com/OffshoreSnorkeling.htm

 

I found this to be helpful to plan out our day on GC. We opted to rent a Jeep, initially we were going to hit a few of the popular snorkeling spots mentioned here, but ultimately we decided to take a drive to Rum Point (aka paradise!!). I have extensive posts on this GC area about both Rum Point and under car rental agencies. We used CICO AVIS http://aviscayman.com/cruise.htm

which you can book directly through them or through the Island Marketing website I directed you to above.

 

Some of the places you can actually take a cab to and arrange for them to come back and pick you up at a later time (they really do show back up!).

 

But, if you want to hit a couple of places and be able to explore on your own time, you may want to consider renting the car. It is easy to get around, there are not a lot of roads. They do drive on the left side of the road, but it doesn't take long to get used to it. And the jeep we rented still had the steering wheel on the left side as we are used to here in the US.

[captainmac]

This is great, thank you.

[momcruzer]

go to http://www.boatsandbutlers.com and contact Captain Shawn, we did a private snorkeling trip with him there were 7 of us 4 adults and 3 kids we had the time of our lives. we kind of found him by accident, long story, but we're glad we did

 

good luck, no matter what you choose snorkeling in Grand Cayman is wonderful

[baylorbear87]

My husband and I were in the Caymans last summer before the hurricane hit. We did the stingray tour with Soto's Snorkeling and had the best time. They also had a underwater videographer along and took pictures of us the whole time. We bought the DVD for $45. It was the best investment! We had no idea before the trip that someone would be along to take pictures. We made several stops. One was at the Gardens and the other at the Stingray sand bar. You could litterally stand on the bottom and be waist deep in water and have the stingrays swim around your legs. At first it was a little weird but by the end I was kissing the stingrays! Our guide would hold them and then would let you hold them and give them a big kiss! Who would have ever thought I would be doing that! The tour guides had fish and we got to hand feed the stingrays. They were like little hoover vacuum cleaners and would suck the fish out of your hands. It was a great experience. I am so glad we did the trip. We boarded the boat down by the Hyatt Regency and it took about 30-40 minutes to ride out to the reef area.

[Coolcruise02]

Has anyone been to Cemetary Beach to snorkel since Ivan hit? Thanks :)

[MsJ]

Has anyone been to Cemetary Beach to snorkel since Ivan hit? Thanks :)

 

 

Hi We snorkeled there twice in April of this year...things looked good to me..I have nothing to compare it too so I don't know if theres been any damage..but we saw lots of coral and sea creatures...