Chartering a boat

[mma3]

My family and I (ten people) will be heading to Grand Cayman in July with the Legend. Has anyone ever chartered a boat in the Caymans? We were looking for something that all of us could enjoy.

[nybumpkin]

I would check the Grand Cayman board under "ports of call," but we chartered a 3-hour tour with John Michael Stafford through grandcaymancruiseexcursions.com. He has a Boston Whaler; we went first to Stingray City, then to a coral reef for snorkeling, then to Starfish Beach (HUGE starfish). We're a family of five - fortysomething parents, sons 17, 12 and 8. There was something for all of us on this tour. Here's the excerpt from my CC review about this tour:

 

We booked a charter boat with John Michael and needed to meet him at 8:30. No problem at all getting a tender - we just walked down around 7:45 and got on a tender. We were at our meeting place by 8:15. John Michael was terrific! He has a 26-foot Boston Whaler with twin Honda 250 outboards - oldest son was lusting after this boat by the time the tour ended. He took us first to Stingray City, before the crowds arrived, and taught us how to feed the stingrays - judging from what I heard afterward, I think we had a much better time than the folks on the ship's excursion - it was just us, we had lots of rays around us, and each of us got to feed the stingrays. From there, we went to a coral reef for snorkeling. Youngest two sons didn't want to try, so John Michael brought up some conch to show to them. Then we went to Starfish Beach - the starfish are huge! This was absolutely a great tour, and I'd highly recommend it. We did a 3-hour tour; John Michael also books a 5-hour tour. If (when?) we go back, I'd opt for the longer tour.