Grand Cayman was another stop on our cruise and I thought this one was much more beautiful than Jamaica. The island definitely looked a bit wealthier, but even just the water was clearer and such a beautiful blue against the white sand beaches. 7 Mile Beach is the famous beach to visit here, but we decided instead to spend our day in port on an excursion to Sting Ray City- the top attraction on Grand Cayman.
Again we booked the excursion through a private tour company separate from the ship. Acquarius Sea Tours was the company we used I had read great reviews of them online and we were very pleased with the experience. The boat was nice and the captain and assistant were great as well. They met us right by the information kiosk at the dock and there were several other guests from our cruise who had also booked the excursion. Captain Mario was a bit late in arriving (around 10 minutes) but he showed up no problem.
The cost was $50 per person and included a lunch snack of a couple slices of pizza and some fruit punch. This was a good inclusion too as we were pretty hungry at that point. One other bonus was that they captain made sure to swim around with all the guests and snap photos of them snorkeling and holding the star fish and sting rays. While normally companies charge for these, access to the photos was free! I simply emailed them afterwards and they sent me the link to their drop box with our photos. A nice perk. If you don’t book this excursion ahead of time there will still be plenty of local agents looking to snag your business upon arrival. They all go to the same place, however we saw a variety of boats transporting the passengers there- from nice yacht styles to literally a simple boat packed full of people looking like sardines in a can. I was very glad we had booked ours ahead of time.
Another thing that attracted me to our tour was that it made three stops: one to snorkel, one at the sting ray city sand bar, and another at star fish point beach. I really wanted to see the star fish (though this was slightly disappointing in the end)! We had no problem making the tour time as long as we got off the ship as soon as it arrived. We told the tour guides what time it was leaving and they made sure to have us back in time as well.
Our first stop was to snorkel and the water was so clear and calm it was great visibility. The boat ride out to the snorkel part took a lot longer than I was expecting, probably around 45 minutes to an hour. That on top of the 15-20 minute bus ride to the dock as well meant you’re definitely looking at some travel time in order to see the sites. Nevertheless we enjoyed our snorkeling for about 45 minutes and the boat provided all the snorkel gear we needed which was in great shape.
From there we headed next to Star Fish Point which is a a very shallow beach area where star fish congregate. I had read that the numbers of starfish are down much more than they have been in the past and this was definitely true. The star fish were huge, bright red and beautiful! But the ocean floor wasn’t quite covered with them like I was hoping. We only spent about 15 minutes at this stop.
Our last stop was the part I was most excited for: to actually see the sting rays! Basically all the tour companies have their designated times they can arrive to the sting ray sandbars and they all pull in and let the tourists pile off. So if you’re looking for a quiet moment with pure nature this won’t be it. But it was still fun to get out and be standing in shallow water in the middle of the ocean and sting rays swim all around you! We each got a turn to hold them and have them rub up on your back so you can feel how slimy they are. You also have the option of feeding them though they warn you to carefully hold the shrimp out for them. These guys have some very powerful suction with their mouths, way stronger than your household vacuum cleaner! Sometimes they can leave a small hickie type mark on your hand as a result. I very nervously fed them the shrimp anyway and was surprised at the bit of a pinch I felt when they snatched it, though it honestly didn’t hurt. One of the other ladies in the group started screaming and dropped the shrimp and it hit her hip. As she tried brushing it away she just kept rubbing the shrimp smell all over her and continued to freak out as all the sting rays came over to check it out. It was pretty funny but this stop was far far too short for my liking. No sooner had everyone in the group had their chance to feed the sting rays one time than we were quickly herded back onto the boat to get back in time for the cruise ship. It definitely felt like it was cut short, I would’ve liked more time to grab a snorkel and do some swimming with the creatures in the water.
So this was definitely a fun excursion that was much more worth the dollars spent. However, don’t get your expectations up too high for the number of star fish and know too that your time with the sting rays may not be a whole lot. I was a little disappointed with how long this tour took over all as we rushed back to make it in time for our ship and didn’t even have any time to check out the beach!
Fire Round the World 