Stingray Tour with 4 yr old

[deriam2000]

I am going to be in Grand Cayman at the beginning of Feburary with my 4 year old son. I know that he would love seeing the stingray and was wondering if there was an age limit on the tour.

[cruisinqt]

I don't think there are any age limits. We just got back from a November cruise and our 5 and 7 year old girls loved it! They still talk about how much fun it was. They still don't understand why they couldn't take the "baby stingray" home and keep it in the bathtub as a pet.:eek:

 

One woman on our cruise had a child that could'nt have been any older than 3 or perhaps 4, so I think age is not an issue. Or at least, it wasn't an issue for Soto's, the local tour operator we used. They charge $30 for adults and $15 for kids. There is a great snorkeling stop that is optional for the young ones, and then they go to the stingray stop. The stingray area is about waist deep and I could easily hold my youngest child while in the water, though towards the end she was swimming around in her life vest and just holding onto my hand. Soto's provides swim vests for everyone and even insists on putting the children's vest on themselves because they have a clever way of doing it that keeps them afloat without it being up around their neck choking them.

 

Soto's website is at www.sotoscruises.com. I would highly recommend them.:D

[deriam2000]

Thank you. How long was the tour. We also wanted to take him to the turtle farm if there was enough time.

[cruisinqt]

We got back to the pier area shortly after 12 o'clock. But you might go to Soto's website and check them out. I've heard that they have changed their tour. I hear that they have went from 3 stops to 2 stops. It used to be a stop at the coral gardens where you snorkel in not so deep water and look at live black coral. Then there was a stop at the barrier reef for some more snorkeling. Last was the stop at the stingrays. But now I hear it is just a stop at the coral gardens and then the stingray stop. They may have shortened the tour or just kept the time the same and spent more time with the rays. I'm not sure. If you e-mail them, they are pretty prompt with their replies.:)

 

One thing about the turtle farm though. The turtles are raised for food, and they tell everyone that when you go there. It might upset a young one to find out that the turtles they love so much will be eaten.:( I just thought I would let you know ahead of time so you'd be aware of the situation. That's one of the reasons we chose not to go there with our kids. We were afraid they would find out and get upset.

[zydecocruiser]

Yes, Soto's has changed the tour effective Jan 1. The tour duration is now 2 hours instead of three and two stops instead of three. The snorkel stop will be Coral Gardens or the Barrier Reef depending on conditions. Adults are now $30 and children 11 and under $20 and free for under 3. They do now seem to accept credit cards, where before it was cash only.

 

The website has been updated to relect this:

http://www.sotoscruises.com/

 

Not all of the turtles are eaten - every year they release some back into the wild.

 

Originally from New Orleans, I LOVE turtle soup, but it is made from a different species of turtle there (not endangered), and in some places is "mock" turtle soup, with no turtle at all.

 

I was in a high dollar restaurant in Phoenix one time that had stingray on the specials menu. I did pass on trying that!

[pringle]

No age limit on Nativeway. We took our 4 year old son.

[matndrew]

Our 4 year old went with us on Capt. Bryan's. The sea was a little rough that day so he did not enjoy it as much as he probably would have had the waves not been so rough. Bring a mask that fits him - your tour operator may not have the proper size:D

[christie629]

We are sailing on Mariner on the 30th of January and will be visiting Grand Cayman. Since I have a 4 year son, I struggled with this question. In the end, if booking through the cruise line, I believe you had to be over 5 to snorkel with the stingrays. I also know my son is kind of a whimp in the water and doens't like to swim (he's had 2 sets of ear tubes).

 

We decided to book the excursion through the cruise line and its the Stingray City and Island Tour. This tour would allow him to see and touch the stingrays and it also goes to the Turtle Farm. He is very excited about that!

 

We are not taking him ashore in Cozumel since we are doing the Dolphin Swim and you have to be 10 -- also he hates the water

 

We are also not taking him ashore in Jamaica -- we are doing a tour with Peat Taylor at the Falls. Peat would allow a child his age but he did say that children that age typically don't climb the falls and stay at the bottom. Since my hubby and I both wanted to do it with our 10 year old, and again the hating the water thing... We will be leaving him with the Adventure Ocean Program.