stingrays and turtle farm

[A&S]

Is there a way to both see the turtle farm and swim with the stingray's?

[Cape Cruiser 2007]

Good question...most of the tours I see have the Stingray, then a tour of hell, another stop, then to turtles.

[KAWS]

I saw this today when I was looking for stingray tours. It's from Native Way. Contact them though because I heard last year that it wasn't too popular and they were THINKING of not doing this anymore.

 

Stingray and Island Tour*

Discover the often overlooked land-based treasures of the island and experience the thrill of swimming with the ‘rays at Stingray City Sandbar, all in one excursion.

 

Our favorite land and sea option combines Native Way’s Grand Island Tour with a trip to Stingray Sandbar, the only place in the world where you can not only see, but swim among, some 40 Southern Atlantic stingrays.

 

Our modern, air-conditioned buses, and friendly local guides, will take you to the world-famous Turtle Farm, Tortuga Rum Factory, 7-Mile Beach, and the Governor’s House. And you’ll go to Hell … and back … but only after cooling off in the crystal-clear, calm waters at Stingray Sandbar. You can swim under, over, and among the rays. And Native Way instructors will show you how to pet, hand-feed and snorkel alongside these friendly creatures.

4 Hours

$45 USD per person

* a minimum of 8 participants required

Here's the website: http://www.nativewaywatersports.com/shiptours.html#Stingrayandisland

 

Also Captain Marvin's has a stingray tour and then you can add the turtle farm for $25 but they also say that there would be a discount for the turtle farm if you booked the stingray tour too.

 

Kim

[Jeremy19]

We recently got back from Cayman, Enchantment of the Seas 6/24-6/29. We prebooked a tour through Shoretrips and had a great time here, the best place we have been yet. (We did not use Nativeway because of the time of their tour and the time we needed to be back on the ship, our own worry - though they assured us they would get us back.)

 

As it turned out we had problems getting off our ship on time for our tour with Shoretrips and ended up 35 minutes late - tour was at 8:30 a.m. (be sure to get the first tender, even if they are tendering those who booked through the cruise line first).

 

We were scheduled to do Stingray Sandbar and then tour the island (inclusive of Turtle Farm and Hell). As it turned out, we did the island tour first which was great because we were all dry. Matlee at Shoretrips drove us around in her minivan. (5 of us total). She was great, absolutey wonderful. She was very accomodating to what we wanted to see and used our time well. We stopped along 7 mile beach for a little bit, went to the Turtle Farm, where Matlee herself took us on a great tour. She knew everything about it, as if she worked there herself. She took my 12 year old (aspiring marine biologist) and let her hold one of the small turtles, then we all held it. I have read posts here that said the Turtle Farm was not that great, but it was fantastic to us because of Matlee. After this she drove us around, took us to a Tortuga Rum store (near the Farm) which was one shopping stop we requseted. She took us in and had us taste all the rum cakes, then took the one of us interested up to the rum counter for taste testing. She then took us to Hell. She asked us about shopping, etc, and tailored our tour to what we wanted, which was to see as much as we could while we were there. She was very knowledgeable. A very friendly lady who I would recommend highly. She took us to these places and went with us to all of them to show us around. When we went to meet the boat for the Stingray Tour she took us to Captain Marvin's. She took us to the boat that we were to be on and made sure the captain knew we were with her. Captain Marvin's did a fantastic job of the Stingray City/Snorkle tour. We swam with the stingrays, they made sure everyone got to hold them, etc..... then we snorkled for a bit in Coral Gardens. From a non-swimmer's perspective I can tell you that the entire experience with the stingrays and snorkel were wonderful, even with the rain shower afterward. DO NOT MISS THE STINGRAYS.

 

I could not recommend booking with Shoretrips highly enough. We were back and had about 2 hours to shop afterward which was perfect. I even went back to the office after the tour to tell them what a wonderful time we had.

 

We are the type to see and do all we can when we go to a new place for the first time. This tour did not feel rushed at all and it was the highlight of our trip.

 

You can do both, Stingray and an island tour. We did, and had time to spare.