Information/Opinions about Rowan Water Sports

[cruiser1time]

I will be travelling to Grand Cayman in February. My sister and I are interested in a Stingray City and Island tour (Hell, Turtle Farm, Rum Factory, etc.)

 

Nativeway was our first choice. We tried booking and they are booked with weddings. Anyone have experience with Rowan?

 

The price ($55 pp) looks great. I was just wondering if it was easy to get to, well-travelled, and not too rushed on time. I understand that to get all of those places, we will be moving pretty quickly from place to place.

 

Any help/information would be greatly appreciated!

 

Melissa :D

[gatec1008]

We're in the same situation and are looking for a tour company that offers the Stingray City and the island tour. Nativeway was our first choice as we have used them before but they are sold out on the day we arrive. We're considering Rowan Watersports since their prices are lower than the other companies. However, we're not sure how large the group will be and the quality of their tour since the itinerary is pretty full.

 

We would love to hear what others' experience have been before we finalize our plan.

[realkee]

Do you have a link to Rowan?

[cruiser1time]

Do you have a link to Rowan?

 

 

http://www.rowanwatersports.com/

 

Since posting this question, I have decided to book with Carnival. The determining factors were the Carnival guarantee, since this is a longer excursion, and the fact that I could not find reviews from this company.

 

The price looks great, just not enough information to assure me into booking!

 

Happy Cruising!

[2CoolCanucks]

We just returned from our cruise on the Carnival Valor. We had booked with Rowan Watersports for our Cayman Islands excursion.

 

We booked the Stingray City Snorkeling and City Tour combo which was advertised on their website for $55. pp adult.

We received an email from them with a ticket that we had to print and bring with us when we arrived in Grand Cayman.

We were supposed to meet a rep between 8:30 and 9:00 at the pier, with the tour starting at 9:30. When we arrived, we met Robert Smith from Rowan Tours and his wife and went with Robert to his tour bus. Robert is a seasoned mariner with a huge heart for people and for his home island. His tour bus was in great shape and was clean, large and air-conditioned.

 

We were the only two people on the tour so he drove us to his friend's boat, a beautiful catamaran called the Buccaneer. We were the first people there and Robert arranged for us to join their tour. Robert then left us. We waited around enjoying the peaceful scenery and chatting with some of the locals till 10:30 and then a bunch of others arrived for their tour on the Buccaneer.

Our captain and crew- the two Bruce's and Carlton- were very friendly and had us all leaving on their beautiful catamaran in short order. The lovely rhythms of reggae music accentuated the ambience of the warm sea breezes as we departed for Stingray City.

 

We arrived at Stingray City and proceeded to swim with the stingrays. There were lots of stingrays and a bunch of other tours there at the same time. The stingrays were smart and chose to play with those people who had food.... our tour's 'ray food' ran out rather quickly and so we weren't seeing a lot of interpersonal activity with the rays. Solution? Swim closer to the other tour operators who still had stingray food. Yup, it worked and we had all kinds of rays hugging us. lol We got some really nice pictures with our underwater camera. (Suggestion to the tour operators - bring some more food along because we really want to swim with the stingrays ;) The water and waves were fun to swim in but be aware- wear heavy sunscreen because we were actually in the water in the high noon hours. We did get acutely sun-kissed that afternoon. :o

 

They then brought us to two separate areas to snorkel. They provided good quality snorkel gear and Carlton took great care to make sure that we all had fins that fit us properly. These Coral Gardens were absolutely gorgeous and we saw lots of wonderful fish and coral.

 

After we finished snorkeling, the crew hoisted the main sail, caught the wind and we had a relaxing sail back to the dock. The crew had scavenged some conchs while we were snorkeling and on the trip back, Bruce 'Almighty' opened/cleaned them and gave us an interesting little biology lesson about the 'innards' of a conch. Those of us who were brave enough, even got to sample some exotic parts of this amazing sea creature.

 

When we got back to the dock at about 1:45, Robert was waiting for us and took us on the island tour in his tour bus. However, because time had slipped away, we couldn't do the full tour. He drove us past the governor's house but we didn't get to stop there. We went to visit the turtle farm and Robert gave us a personal tour of the place, giving us a lot of great information about the turtles. It was also a thrill to hold the turtles, especially the little wee ones (hand-size). We then walked across the street to the Dolphinarium and watched the dolphins playing with some folks. Those dolphins are some smart and amazing animals!

 

We decided to miss Hell (not planning to ever go there anyway lol) By then, we were getting close to the time for the last tender which was scheduled for 3:00. We picked up a group of Carnival tourists at the Turtle Farm and we all drove back to the port. Robert entertained us with some jokes and facts about the island. We arrived at the port at 3:20 and still managed to make the last tender to our ship without being rushed.

 

I would recommend Rowan Watersports because we had a great time, even though we didn't get to do everything that we thought we were getting. (This really was because we ran out of time and lost that first hour from 9:30-10:30 waiting for the other tour to arrive.)

 

We really liked Robert and to us, he is a totally trustworthy person. We would recommend him as a tour operator because he knows the island very well, knows the water and appears to be a man of integrity.

 

We appreciated that he hooked us up with the crew on the Buccaneer because they were also really great guys! The catamaran was 'full' but not crowded. It was a smooth ride and being on this beautiful catamaran, as opposed to a little boat, was a highlight!

 

Sometimes you have to try the 'road less travelled' and in booking with Rowan Watersports, we found a gem of an experience.