Tips for Grand Cayman Beach Day?

[Goofy cruisers]

Does anyone have any tips for a day at the beach at Grand Cayman?

Going on 4/23/05......

 

[banderson]

Just back from the Magic and Seven-Mile Beach is still in relatively bad shape. You might want to "do" the beach at another port and do something else in Grand Cayman. We did Stingray City and it was great.

 

[nluvwithmickey]

Just thought I'd say hi to a fellow Montrealer

We have also booked the 7 day western carribean cruise....Thanks for the advice!

 

[Goofy cruisers]

Which Sting Ray tour did you do? We are on the 7:30 am tour ouch! Do you have any other tips!

 

[banderson]

We did the 7:30. You actually meet onboard at 7:30, so you're not in the water until much later. It was well done. There is someone taking photos, so try to get a few taken so you have a better selection to choose from. The price is $15 for a 4x6 and $20 for a 5x7. If you are with kids who may want a snack after, bring something 'cause one very, very small bag of unhealthy potato chips and a soda will cost you $4 a head.

We really enjoyed Stingray City because we are all snorkellers to begin with. It was out second-best excursion, after Chichen Itza in Mexico.

 

[Goofy cruisers]

Any other stuff you can think of just keep it coming. We did the 4 day last year and it was great!!

 

[PattiO]

We are also just back from Feb 26 Western Magic and had a GREAT time!!!! We were scheduled to do reef sail and stingray city snorkle at 1230 pm but because of high winds expected it got canceled. I was lucky to quickly check with the excurson desk for any am openings and got my 16 dd, 14 ds, 8 ds , and I on the island tour and stingray city snorkle. The tour was ok... we toured the island saw a lot of damage, saw the seven mile beach, stopped by hell (not interesting at all), stopped by turtle farm (neat but not much there), but by far the highlight and I highly recommend it is the stingray city snorkle!! It was wonderful!!!! No photos on this one, they video taped us and had a video or dvd for purchase. I believe 40-50$ range. No snacks just juice. I agree with fellow cruiser ba (Hi)!! It definitely is a must do! I learned a lot about excursions. (This was our very 1st cruise) If I do any excursions I will book them earlier!!! I booked most around noon but by the time you get all gathered and papers together,etc.... to your location your afternoon is gone! I say the earlier the better so you still have time to enjoy your day and if you want to do any shopping you can.

 

[kaykels]

Are any of the beaches in any condition for hanging out? Is 7 mile beach in bad shape for all 7 miles? I have a new 4 year old on board with me (he turns 4 the day we get on the ship) and I don't think he'll swim with stingrays. Any other ideas? Or can I bring him along while the older kids go?

 

[TheWog]

Sea Grape Beach and Courtyard Beach (right next to each other) are in fine shape. They are beautiful and have a bunch of water sports to do right there. They also have showers, food, drinks, chairs and umbrellas. Umbrella rentals were $10.00 each and usually included a soft drink or water. The water was clear and sand soft. $4 cab ride one way per person from the dock. It was a great time. We were just there in January.

 

[vossjemi]

I second TheWog's comments. We were at Seagrape in Jan too. Loved it! They also had a beach side bar with drinks/food called Calico Jacks. We had the conch fritters, yummy!

edited to add: Be forewarned though this beach does get pretty deep pretty fast which is good for snorkeling, but maybe not so good for little kids.

 

[myboysmom]

Just an idea we have. We aren't going for a year.

Do the Island tour early in the day and then spend the rest of the day at 7 Mile Beach. Anyone else do something similar?