Anyone done the turtles with boats just waiting by water offering to take you out?

[jschafer6161]

If so, where did you find these boats, what beach? And, how much did they charge? Also, were you happy? Did they provide the snorkeling equipment, life vests, etc? In Grand Cayman they have all kinds of people with signs offering tours with the stingrays. I just wonder if it's like that in Barbados too.......

[mayrashke]

We took the govt bus to Payne's Bay beach and got let out by the Blue Monkey-walked through their entrance to the beach-there were guys there greeting you/trying to get you to rent a chair,etc.,etc,etc.(There were latching onto everyone who came there.) We just went through and walked down the beach a ways and sat on our towels. Then there were guys with jet-ski rentals and the glass bottom boat tours and those boats will take you out for a price and it also goes to a wreck to snorkel. I heard 2 older couples negotiating with them. Those guys around BMonkey are irritaing though and it is so crowded in fron of their place. If we were to go there ever again, I would try and research where to get off the bus better to avoid them at the BMonkey. I have read something about getting off at the 'Coach House'....?

We just swam out to the turtles and have our own snorkel gear:my husband had a snorkel vest, younger daughter a pool-noodle thing and older daughter had flippers(I think) and I had a slowly deflating beach ball as extra support(LOL). It is not a long swim if you are decent/strong swimmer. It was fairly calm the day we were there. You do have to watch out for catamaran boats ,etc. It does get kind of crowded.

Note:we asked some other people (Canadians) on the beach to watch our stuff while we did this. They rented an umbrella for $5 from ...?maybe the place next to the BMonkey...not sure where exactly.

After our time at the beach, I was thirsty and went into the BMonkey to get a pop on our way out and this guy asked if we needed a cab. (We were planning to get the bus.) He showed us this little store right NEXT to the BMonkey on the road and the tinned pop was only $1!!! We asked the store clerk where to get the bus and she showed us and we just missed a govt bus. (This guy must have been a taxi driver? as he was not as irritatingly insistent as the others seen at the BMonkey.) A private bus came by and stopped for us and we said we only had the govt tokens, but they took us anyway for the tokens and we gave them an extra $1 and since we were the last people on the bus they were very kind and took us real close to the ship area!!(Maybe with our sunburns they felt sorry for us!lol)

Good luck on deciding your excursions and wear lots of sunscreen all the time! Have a great cruise and I hope this long post was of some sort of help.

[patience32]

:)another option is to catch a taxi [3 dollars each]to malibu beach get out the taxi facing mailbu turn left walk past three or four houses and walk down lane leading to lovely beach[this is totally legal as all beaches are public.you can go in the malibu entrance but you will be charged.once on the beach you can hire a chair theres a bar snacks etc.a man comes around with a catamaran and takes you over to the turtles for 25 dollars each has life jacket

not sure about snorkelling gear though.theres also jet skies etc .i love this beach and you can still see your ship:D

[jschafer6161]

That sounds great! Thank you for the information. We have little ones 6 and 8 and I"m a little worried about their tiring if we swim out too far. They are strong, but it still worries me. I also thought about doing the Boatyard catamaran but that will cost us about $220...... plan to get snorkeling gear before we leave, and life vests. Maybe we'll try it. This is a strang question and I'll probably have people laughing at me, but what are the chances of sharks or stingrays, or something else dangerous being in the water on our swim out to the turtles? That really freaks me out....

[sumfun2]

We did the turtle swim in Barbados last week (from a boat). The turtle spot is about 100 yards off shore, so just to be safe, make sure your kids have fins and floatation. We did not see any sharks or stingrays. There were several other boats there with us, so that probably scared away most predators. Also, there was no coral in the area (just sand), so there's really no small fish for the big predators to feed on.

 

I would recommend getting there early, as the turtles are hungrier in the morning. Also, bring some food in a baggie to feed them. It might be hard to find them on your own, so just follow the people from the boats.

[jschafer6161]

what boat/tour company did you use?

[sumfun2]

We used Thriller Ocean Tours and had a great time. Their email is: thriller-ocean-tours@caribsurf.com, and their website is: http://www.caribzones.com/thrilleradventure.html. Search for them on this forum for more details and recommendations. They charge $50 for adults, $35 for children.