Fyi No Waverunners Allowed At Stingray City

[#1PATSFAN]

I thought I'd share this info with you all. I spoke with a gentleman at FatFishAdventures today to inquire about the Jet boat & Waverunner excursions to Stingray City. He informed me that New laws in the Caymans are prohibiting any Waverunners to go to Stingray City and the jet boats are only allowed with a guide driving. None of the websites offering these tours say any of this. I googled Cayman islands and there was a page from one of their government meeting minutes discussing this subject with exactly what this guy said. Just I'd give everyone a heads up.

Tammy

[rellie2002]

I'm going to call the tour company and find out. My fiance and I are planning to book this excursion really soon. We really had our hearts set on it so hopefully we can still go. Thanks for the info though. It's better to find out now than later.

[#1PATSFAN]

I'm going to call the tour company and find out. My fiance and I are planning to book this excursion really soon. We really had our hearts set on it so hopefully we can still go. Thanks for the info though. It's better to find out now than later.

 

I think you may be ok with the date your going in October, I think it starts the 1st fo the year. He wasn't very clear on the dates the law was taking effect but I know were going in Jan. and he said we couldn't do it then. :(

Hope this helps. Let me know what you find out, we also really wanted to book this excursion it looked awesome!

[C cruzer]

I was planning on booking this tour for our sailing in Jan. Maybe they will change to stay within the new law requirements. Like parking near by. But I think that would take away from the whole trip. Thanks for the up date. Let us know if anything changes.

[C cruzer]

I was just reading on another post that Stingray City and the sandbar that the Sea doo trip goes to are two different places. Maybe thats the difference:confused:

[Nemo2005]

Any more news on this? Hoping to book for February.

[#1PATSFAN]

Here's the latest email I got from FatFishAdventures

Thanks for contacting us. Recently implemented government restrictions regarding operations in and around Stingray City, have forced us to change the nature of our tour. These changes will soon be reflected on our website. Due to this restriction we are now offering customized tours with onboard drivers/guides. The minimum tour time is two hours at US$100 per hour. These trips can include a visit to Stingray City, snorkeling, and pit stops at Rum Point or Kaibo. Guests are picked up at the cruise ship terminal and dropped back off at the end of the tour.

Guests are given a chance to drive these ultra fast vessels outside of the restriction zone. Pick up is at 8:30 am at the entrance to the Hard Rock Cafe- which is located on the waterfront accross from Atlantis Submarine.

A deposit of 20% is required to confirm a reservation, cancellation policies are included in the confirmation sheet which is sent to you. Should you be unable to show up for the tour at no fault of yours, your deposit is automatically refunded.

 

If you have any more questions please do not hesitate to ask.

Take Care,

Peter

[232271]

Here's the latest email I got from FatFishAdventures

Thanks for contacting us. Recently implemented government restrictions regarding operations in and around Stingray City, have forced us to change the nature of our tour. These changes will soon be reflected on our website. Due to this restriction we are now offering customized tours with onboard drivers/guides. The minimum tour time is two hours at US$100 per hour. These trips can include a visit to Stingray City, snorkeling, and pit stops at Rum Point or Kaibo. Guests are picked up at the cruise ship terminal and dropped back off at the end of the tour.

Guests are given a chance to drive these ultra fast vessels outside of the restriction zone. Pick up is at 8:30 am at the entrance to the Hard Rock Cafe- which is located on the waterfront accross from Atlantis Submarine.

A deposit of 20% is required to confirm a reservation, cancellation policies are included in the confirmation sheet which is sent to you. Should you be unable to show up for the tour at no fault of yours, your deposit is automatically refunded.

 

If you have any more questions please do not hesitate to ask.

Take Care,

Peter

 

bummer, this will hurt so many in this type of business and we too thought this tour would be so cool. I understand why they are doing it, just dissapointed. Thanks for sharing.

[luv2gocruzin]

I was planning on doing a Waverunner tour in January that included a stop at Stingray City....darn!! I hadn't booked it yet, though...........

[wolfganghowell]

Thanks for the info. We have booked the waverunners through Island Marketing - we have been to Stingray City twice already - the second time was on the same tour we are doing again. This won't impact our choice since we don't care about going there again but we will check to see what changes this makes on our tour.

[marvin1155]

I spoke to Island marketing and asked them about this and they said there's no such law, i also called the cayman island dept. of tourism and they also stated that they have heard of no such law but will be checking again and giving me a call back. I want to plan a trip in march but dont wanna be screwed

[marvin1155]

I gave someone at fatfish a call and he said that there is a law but it's not really enfored n most other companies use their wave runner anyway

[#1PATSFAN]

I gave someone at fatfish a call and he said that there is a law but it's not really enfored n most other companies use their wave runner anyway

Thanks for the info. I wonder why FatFish would want to send people away! The email FatFish sent states no waverunners at Stingray City. I'll look into another company because this looks like fun. Thanks Again

[wolfganghowell]

Island Marketing's limits it to 6 waverunners and we approached very very slowly and left the waverunners on the absolute edge where all the rays were. Our guides were very responsible both in their handling of us and the rays.

[caymanjohn]

....I recently spoke to another operator who uses small rigid inflatables (RIBs) to do Stingray City.

 

He has been told they must have a boat skipper for each RIB and customers cannot drive the boats in the new Wildlife Interaction Zone (WIZ).

 

The other thing that may kill this off is the licencing requirements, with every boat requiring not only the Port Authority documentation but a WIZ licence to visit Stingray City operating Waverunners and small boats is getting pretty expensive..

 

Locally, many people also want to see the use of Waverunners totally banned in North Sound on safety grounds.