STINGRAY CITY TOURS GRAND CAYMAN - THE BEST ADVICE THAT WE CAN GIVE!

DO NOT BOOK YOUR SEA TOUR ON THE LAST DAY OF YOUR VACATION!

Let us say it one more time - do NOT book your sea tour on the LAST DAY of your vacation!

Tropical storm over the North Sound in Grand Cayman

As tempting as it might seem after your flight to a caribbean island promising you a well earned vacation, dropping the luggage in the room and leaving sea tour bookings till your last day of holiday is very ill-advised.

Caribbean = tropical weather

Tropical weather = teenager

 Teenager = dramatic & instantaneous mood swings

therefore

Caribbean = dramatic & instantaneous weather swings

Having said the above, I don't think even hurricanes keep us Grand Cayman tour operators quite as adrenalin pumped as we become when bad weather strikes - conditions become unsafe and tours have to be cancelled. And the wrath of unhappy, frustrated guests and visitors is unleashed upon us......

Perhaps it comes down to expectations. At this time of the year, most holiday makers visiting caribbean islands are escaping from the grey, freezing conditions of home - conditions that bring incumbent lifestyle discomforts, increased utility bills and for those travelling, delayed flights. On the flip side of the coin (or should I say credit card?), the tropical vacation destination is supposed to be quite the opposite - sunny, balmy days in paradise, a comfortable existence of one layer of clothing and hassle free fun hunting ........ and then the weather happens and the dream is blown to bits by gusting caribbean winds. Not exactly the plan.

Believe us when we say that it breaks our hearts when this happens. We sincerely want nothing but the very best of experiences for our island visitors. We want you to have the sun in the hammock, the golden vacation memories. We want to send you home with glowing tans, sentimental smiles and plans for the next visit already on the boil! And as Stingray City Tour operators, we really, really, REALLY want you to experience feeding and kissing the stingrays in Grand Cayman.

We have awesome sea tour operators here in Grand Cayman. We honestly do. And they will do just about anything to make you enjoy your time with them. But one thing they can NOT do is change the weather, nor can they accommodate guests from three (or more) cancelled tours onto the fourth tour, no matter how much money you offer, no matter how much you raise your voice and no matter how little time you have left on the island. Doing so is not safe, not good for business and simply not right.

So we beg you, please book your tours early on in your vacation. If bad weather happens, you can reschedule. If bad weather happens again, you can reschedule again. If bad weather happens again, that is pretty lousy luck but at least you tried and you can try again on your next visit (because we know that you will love our island and come back). 

Just don't leave the sea tour to the last day ...........

Barbara the stingray during a snorkel stop

THE SUN DOESN'T ALWAYS SHINE IN THE CARIBBEAN .....

However, we still feel that a bad day in Grand Cayman is better than a freezing, snow-covered day that many countries are currently going through....I honestly don't think we'd last a day in temperatures under 0C!

Skirting a squall during tour in Grand Cayman

We had initially scheduled standard maintenance for "Big John" yesterday, but then we looked at the weather forecast for the weekend and changed minds rather quickly. A decision was made to try and move all our Saturday clients to yesterday - high winds predicted for the 7th - and that means quite tough, choppy conditions in the North Sound.

I would venture to say that many excursion guests might view a re-scheduled tour with some suspicion, but we honestly try to arrange our tours with the best possible experience in mind. The photo above shows a squall during yesterday's tour, but at least the waters were quite calm and the visibility pretty good - that would not be true of conditions today, even if the sun is shining!

Beautifully clear and calm waters

The above photo show how beautiful the waters were at the snorkelling site - the visibility really nice. We got the opportunity to introduce them to Phsycho the moray eel as well - we have not seen him for a while. Captain Mario reported that he was really quite sociable and welcoming, swimming around and giving our guests a really good eyeful of his beauty. We were once again joined by the Stingray Barbara while snorkelling - she is such a delight - no wonder she is Captain Mario's favourite!

Some may see this as double trouble, but we call it a double delight!

Because our guests were all overnight visitors on island, Captain Mario took the opportunity to extend the tour a little so that he could skirt and out-thwart a squall. This way, our guests missed being rained on, and had a little more time to enjoy themselves - so everyone was happy.

Stingray City Sandbar was a happy time with Snowflake doing the kissing and handing out 7 years of good luck - Dwayne the 1st mate has a very big soft spot for her.

So, although there was a little inconvenience to begin with, the tour turned out a success and we hope that our guests are left with magical vacation memories and photos, and we hope that we can welcome them back on Big John again one day soon!

One of the ladies at Stingray City in Grand Cayman

STINGRAY CITY GRAND CAYMAN - STUNNING CONDITIONS

PARADISE FOUND ......

The island of Grand Cayman has a lot of bragging rights when it comes to her natural beauty, and then you get days when she simply out-does herself and your breath gets stuck in your throat at the beauty of it all.

North Sound Grand Cayman

Yesterday was just such a day. And what a luxury it was for us - a standard excursion in the morning, and a private chartered tour in the afternoon .... twice the pleasure in one day!

Sometimes words can get in the way of something gorgeous, so without further ado, FOLLOW THIS LINK to enjoy a snippet of paradise at the Stingray City Sandbar.

Have a blessed day!

LEAVING THE BEST TILL LAST- EXCURSION TO STINGRAY CITY

They say revenge is best served cold. However, there is no best way to serve disappointment. Trust us - we know.

Taking island visitors to meet, feed and kiss the stingrays at the sandbar in Grand Cayman is not only a privilege, but a genuine delight for our crew. First time visitors arrive with a range of emotions - fear, trepidation, curiosity, bravado or simply daring - and all with the under current of excitement. For some, this visit is a bucket item list, for some it is a dream come true for which they have saved a long time, for some, just an attraction which they have "heard" about.

Enjoying Stingray City Sandbar in Grand Cayman

Whatever your motivation for visiting this world famous attraction, our ONE piece of advice would  be :

"DO NOT LEAVE YOUR SEA TOUR TO THE LAST DAY OF YOUR VACATION"

This is the Caribbean, we live in the tropics. Living in the tropics means weather conditions can do a complete u-turn in just a few hours. Annoying? Yes. Predictable? Nope. Controllable? Well, if we could control the weather we would no doubt be far more financially secure.

It sounds rather noble for us to say that we put safety before financial consideration, but we honestly don't want take you on an excursion where you are in the water and have a 40 foot boat being tossed around you by 6 foot swells and matching waves. We also don't think it's too much fun for guests to enter and exit the water in these conditions. Are there tour operators who will take you out despite all of this? Yes. But we will not.

So, given all the above information, it can be plainly seen that it is not wise to book your sea tour for the last available day of your vacation. If weather prevents this from happening, you do not have a (safe) alternative option. Rather book your excursion during the earlier part of your holiday - that way, you have the flexibility to arrange for another day and won't miss what could have been the highlight of your visit. 

IN A RUSH TO RELAX?????

CAN'T THIS BOAT GO FASTER????

Our crew are faced with many interesting questions which they love to answer, but the above question is without doubt one that causes some serious confusion for them.

It would be safe to say that 100% of our guests are on excursion with us to visit some of nature's most beautiful sites. Even if they are living on island, and are not on Grand Cayman for a vacation, surely it can be safely assumed that they are with us to relax, breathe in the salt air and commune in surroundings which are not man-made nor of concrete structure.

Has life become SO busy that we can no longer slow down? Does nothing count unless it can be done in a New York minute? Do we really want to live our lives in an instant?

So, to answer your question, oh yeah baby, it sure can, but why would we want it to? Why would we want to rush you past all this beauty? And with only a couple of feet of water under our helm, why would we want to leave a path of disturbance behind us?

Nah. Enjoy your time with us. Relax. Breathe. Sigh. But most of all ...... stop and smell the sea air.