See and Sea Island Tour

[kscruising]

Has anyone done this excursion, would kids like this?

 

[tinkattitude!]

I am also interested in this, this is one of the excursions we're looking at taking with our then almost 8 year old daughter

 

[MarkRG]

This is on St Maarten right?

We've done it. The kids might be a bit bored with the 'see' bus ride, but it's reasonably short.

The Sea tour part is another matter, they use these amazing boats. They take enough to just fill the lower deck, no taking turns to see. Everyone gets a great view. The windows are approx 2 ft or so square. They sail on out to the reef, escort everyone below where every person has a seat on these flip down benches, and they send out a diver with bait to lure fish up near the boat. It's really cool. You'll see other sea life that hangs out by the reef too. And they have a local guide on overhead speakers telling you what you're looking at too.

Then they take you by bus to the shops on that side of the island for a shopping stop then back to the ship.

 

[Hopkins]

The tour in Grand Cayman was a nice overview of the island. You get to see the Stingray City, Hell and the Turtle Farm.

From the Magic, you are escorted to small white buses that fit about 15 people in each bus. It first takes you past Seven Mile Beach on your way to Stingray City. Once at the dock, there is a small gift shop and restroom, you board a high speed catamaran to the moored submarine at Stingray City. The boat ride takes about 10 minutes. You transfer onto the platform of the subs and go down to view the stingrays. Everyone gets a window. The divers jump in and the stingrays approach. The diver holds one up to the window to show you the rays upclose. All the while, there is narration explaining the site and the stingrays. This by far is the BEST of this excursion! Have your cameras ready. If you are afraid of swimming with the rays, this is the best way to see them (behind glass). The stingrays where everywhere. This is the way I like to see them. Something about the stingrays that scares me, so behind glass is fine with me. Then, off the moored submarine to the boat to make the trip back to the dock and reboard the buses.

The next stop is Hell. Definitely, very touristy, but I was surprised that I found it quite beautiful. I imagined a tourist trap, but what we encountered, was a beautiful, much larger site than I thought it was going to be. Granted, they have the tacky gift shops, but it was a nice little diversion. They even have a post office there, so you can get you post cards canceled with "Hell, Grand Cayman". I wouldn't go to Grand Cayman just to see this, but it was a nice little side trip.

Off to the Turtle Farm where you can see the turtles in various stages of development. You learn about their history and breeding. You can even hold one. I highly recommend that you do this. Your guide will take one out of these huge breeding tanks and pass it to anyone that wants to hold one. You MUST do this! How often can you say that you held a sea turtle. Have your cameras ready. Next door is the Tortuga Rum Cake Factory. Sample the cakes there and purchase your gifts. Outside is the Tortuga Pirate that you can take pictures with.

Then, back onto the bus for the return trip to Georgetown. This really was a nice overall excursion of Grand Cayman. It was nice being able to see the Stingrays behind glass (too chicken to swim with them), hold a Sea Turtle at the Turtle Farm and a little side trip to Hell, though tourist, but was quite beautiful.

Hope this helps.
Tina