JC98

Hi,

Which boat is best for experiences snorkelers to Stingray City and Coral Garden, etc? We want to spend as much time in the water as possible and don't way too many little kids and inexperienced snorkelers holding us up.

I see many of these boats offer a 2 hours trip with 2 snorkeling sites, but after picking up cruise ship passengers and people from their hotels, how much time is left for snorkeling??

Is there a way to go to the dock ourselves and catch a boat out there on our own? We only have 2 people though.

Thanks!

KVR

Avoiding boat tours with kids, cruise shippers and inexperienced snorkelers is going to be difficult unless you hire a private charger. Then it's going to be quite expensive. I would avoid Capt. Marvin since he caters to the cruise ship crowd. We went with Soto. There was about 12 people on the boat.

I would try this site: http://www.caymanislands.ky

You can always email tour operators and ask them how many people they usually take during a tour.

JC98

Thanks for your response. We're also looking at Soto, but it looks like their tour is only 2 hours long vs 3 hours for other boats. How much snorkeling time did you have with Soto?

Thanks!

virginia

you might look at http://www.redsailcayman.com/en/index.html
all their locations are on seven mile beach except rum point and morritt's.
you could taxi over to rum point and do one of their stingray city/coral gardens trips. it's only 15 mins by boat from their pier so would maximize water time. the drive is about an hour but you'd get to see the real island, not the tourist zone, instead of being on a big boat with lots of ppl. rum point has a fun beach bar and a burger/sandwich grill and you can snorkel there before a/or after your tour. red sail may be able to tell you how to arrange to get over to rum point.
these aren't my rum point pics but it's a nice place to hang out -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/franziedee/3220138302/
looking in from the pier -
http://www.flickr.com/photos/luckypimp/255801227/
the bar http://www.flickr.com/photos/la_yake/2315949332/

KVR

We did our tour back in 2003, so things may have changed. I believe it was 3 hours. We had plenty of time to snorkel at each stop. The 2 crew memebers were great. They even did a video above and below water that was just awesome, better than the snorkeling we did. E-mail them and ask.

I agree with Rum Point also, but would do as a seperate excursion.

luvtotravl

Are you staying on the island or a cruise ship passenger? If you are staying on the island, check out Ocean Frontiers on the east end. It's a well known dive shop and when we have gone on their sting ray tour it was a different type of tour, no kids and more time spent in the water. Also, check out the Reef Resort snorkel tour on the east end. Not a cruise ship crowd and they go out later in the day when the cruise ship passengers are headed back to their ship. When we went with them it was on a 60' sail boat with free rum punch and more time in the water than when we went out from the 7MB (South Sound area).

fun4all4

Great info, thanks!!