Walking and Kayak Nature Adventure

[lundve]

Has anyone done this excursion on Castaway Cay before? Our traveling party is up for trying new things and wondered if anyone could give us some first hand accounts. Maybe you could share a bit of a description from your point of view or some of your pros and cons.

 

[PE_TCR]

We enjoyed it. You start out on a walk and you walk the trails on the island and some information is given to you about the plants and some local history. Then you take a kayak out to another part of the island. There are a lot od starfisk and conc shells and other small waterlife. It was a lot of fun. I probably wouldn't do it again but I am glad that we did do it. I can send you some pictures if you want to PM me. Hope this helped a little. Feel free to ask any questions you want.

 

[hamm1207]

lundve, I'm so glad that you asked this question because I was just looking at this excursion as well. It looks like fun!

PE TCR: thank you for sharing! Was it more adults participating, or were there families with little ones?

 

[PE_TCR]

It was mostly adults but a few older kids.

 

[minie_meese]

We did this in Feb 2009 and had a terrific time. The places we walked were places you will only see on an excursion. We learned a lot about Castaway Cay and the Bahamas. Our guides were terrific. Unfortunately the rough seas and the winds were not in our favor so we only got to take the kayaks out for a short while. The alternate place they go was not accessible because of the tides. They refunded half our money because we didn't get the whole time. We had a great time and I would have been fine if they didn't refund our money. Here are a few photos from that tour.

A beach quite a ways beyond the adult beach

Our daughter and one of the guides - they got to venture out a little farther than anyone else

Our other guide holding a sea sponge someone found on the beach

 

[lundve]

PE TCR & minie_meese

Thanks for the info so far. I love the opinions of my fellow disers. Keep them coming..

 

[smeecanada]

We're looking at doing this excursion as well. Was there some place to stash your beach stuff or did you just leave it on the ship while you were on the excursion and get it later?

 

[ACDSNY]

We're looking at doing this excursion as well. Was there some place to stash your beach stuff or did you just leave it on the ship while you were on the excursion and get it later?

We had the same female guide in Nov 2009 when seven of us took this tour. We all enjoyed it. We just left our bags with our stuff on the beach while we were kayaking. It was nice to get away from the crowds for part of the day, then we spent the rest of our time on the family beach.

I only wished my DH would have let us take a slower pace on the kayaks as I had my camera with me and would have liked to take a few more pics of our group and what was underwater.

 

[smeecanada]

We had the same female guide in Nov 2009 when seven of us took this tour. We all enjoyed it. We just left our bags with our stuff on the beach while we were kayaking. It was nice to get away from the crowds for part of the day, then we spent the rest of our time on the family beach.

I only wished my DH would have let us take a slower pace on the kayaks as I had my camera with me and would have liked to take a few more pics of our group and what was underwater.

Couple of further questions.... Did you leave your stuff on the Family Beach or the beach where you picked up the kayaks?

When you got the kayaks - did they take you on a bit of a guided paddle or where you just paddling around on your own?

 

[ACDSNY]

Couple of further questions.... Did you leave your stuff on the Family Beach or the beach where you picked up the kayaks?

When you got the kayaks - did they take you on a bit of a guided paddle or where you just paddling around on your own?

We left our bags on the beach where we picked up the kayaks. Any singles in the group were paired up either with a guide or another single. The group followed the guide up an inland water way, then came back out toward the ocean and went around a buoy and back to the beach we started from.

The beach we picked up the kayaks at seemed to be off the beaten path so unless you were on a tour I doubt you'd be out there.

 

[stitchy626]

Thanks to the OP for asking this question and thanks to all who have answered. This is one excursion that I was looking at and the pictures sold me. I am still a little worried about the heat though. We will be on the July 5th Dream Double Dip and I worry about suffering from the heat on the walk. Where I live our summers are in the low 100's but no humidity and I can barely handle that.

 

[poohs4me]

DH did not enjoy this. We were a party of 3 and he ended up having to go by himself. I was with DD. The two person Kayak was not suited for one person. He's tall and the angle his legs had to be at made it much harder for him to paddle efficiently. The wind was very strong. So one direction no problem the return was a bit of an effort especially when DD decides she is not going to paddle anymore.

Overall we were glad we did it the water was beautiful and we might do it again - if we we had even numbers. I just wanted to bring some of our issues out in the open so that others can be more prepared.

We did leave our stuff on the kayak beach.

 

[DaveH]

I took this in the spring of 2009. I ended up in a kayak by myself. I was a solo person. I am only in so so physical condition and did just fine. The weather was calm. There are water stations at several places during the walk. The guides encourage us to drink plenty of water. The area we kayaked over was not very deep. If any of us needed to get out we could stand up and have no problem. Non of us did. We saw a sand shark during our excursion. It was more afraid of us than us of him. The guides were very good. It was at a nice leisurely pace. The female guide pictured earlier was the same one we had.

 

[hamm1207]

Sounds like overall the experience was good for most people. Thank you for sharing! I've found that it's one of the cheaper excurisions, and you seem to get your money worth out of it...is that correct? One of my big things was what to do with your belongings while kayaking, but from what people have said, it seems alright to leave stuff on the beach.

How do you think this experience would be for someone who has no kayak experience (or canoe experience)? Were the guides helpful and willing to give a little kayak lesson before heading out?

Would you recommend a waterproof/underwater camera for this excursion, or would a normal digital camera be okay to take along?

 

[smeecanada]

Thanks for everyone's replies. It's been hard to find info about this excursion. Hopefully someone will link this post to the excursion FAQ.

We booked the excursion last night. It's just DH and I, so we shouldn't have a problem. The local pool has a kayak session that we are going to go to and figure out things before the excursion, so that we are not complete newbies.

 

[PE_TCR]

We had no prior experience and did just fine. I would bring a waterproof camera but it isn't necessary. Jst nice to have in case you were to fall into the water.

 

[DaveH]

My tour was the only time I used a kayak. I also never had been in a canoe also. I put my digital camera in a zip lock to make sure. The camera and my lanyard was all that I took with me.

 

[lundve]

Thanks again for the comments & photos. We love Castaway Cay and think this would be an awesome way to explore in a completely different way. So we have signed up for our October cruise. I do hope the weather cooperates for us.

 

[Grandma4ever]

Thanks for everyone's replies. It's been hard to find info about this excursion. Hopefully someone will link this post to the excursion FAQ.

We booked the excursion last night. It's just DH and I, so we shouldn't have a problem. The local pool has a kayak session that we are going to go to and figure out things before the excursion, so that we are not complete newbies.

Looks like we will get the pleasure of doing this excursion together. I just added it yesterday. Also looks like it will be great fun and finished just in time for LUNCH!