Snorkelling in GT - Gibbs Cay

[N00B]

Grand Turk will be the first stop of our cruise ship. We are thinking about snorkelling.

 

The ship has several snorkelling excursions available. One of them includes a snorkel stop in Gibbs Cay with the Stingrays.

 

I have heard a few unpleasant things about this stop and was hoping someone with experience could give me more info.

 

For one thing I heard that the transport people will talk to you on the boat through 1/2 the stop (25 minutes was what I heard) before letting you into the water.

 

I also heard that there are often almost no stingrays there and people crowd up and wait in line to get anywhere near one.

 

But I also have no heard about the quality of snorkelling there. They call it a snorkel stop and talk about fish and coral, but then all I ever see is people talking about the sting rays. I think they would be fun but I can't imagine spending an hour standing in thigh deep water looking at stingrays.

 

The ideal stop for me would be 10 minutes or so of interacting with the stingrays and then floating off to snorkel other sights (that may or may not include stingrays) for the rest of the 1 hr stop.

 

So our other option is simply a 2 stop snorkel tour, with 1:30 at the first stop and :45 at the second stop. It's very close in price so if the stingrays offer a better value I'd definitly be interested. But if the tour operator keeps us on the boat and talking for :30 minutes of that stop, well that's not really my idea of "snorkelling".

 

Please share you experiences snorkelling in GT.

 

TIA

[elainmir]

I'd love to know the answer to this as well....I was thinking of booking the Gibbs trip but I do not want to sit and listen to someone yammering on ...don't waste my time...if they are just talking I don't want to do that...

[G-off14]

Was in Grand Turk last Friday on the Conquest. Did the excursion through Carnival. Was a great time! Nice weather and boat ride over to Gibbs Cay. There were about 5 to 6 different stingrays that swam up after the captain woke the up. They swam around your feet while you took pictures with holding them. Bought a GoPro before I went and have some great footage. There was a big one that swam up, held it and it weighed about 60-70 lb? Rookie at snorkeling so I inflated my vest some and swam out with the GoPro. Swam near two reefs right off the beach. Posted below is a youtube video of the snorkeling part.

 

[DontWorryBHappy]

I did this excursion last November. I think it's quite expensive, but that's my opinion. There were 28 of us and three crew.

 

After the captain's safety speech and snorkeling gear how-to, we spent less than 40 minutes at a snorkeling site near Gibbs Cay. The ocean was very rough that day and many first time snorkelers didn't stay in the water very long. It was difficult for some to swim against the strong current.

 

The reef at that location wasn't huge, but it was alive with sea creatures and the water was warm. The swells were quite high. It wasn't the most enjoyable snorkeling experience I've had in the Caribbean.

 

Next, a short ride to Gibbs Cay. The crew threw some bait in the water and five rays of various sizes hung out around us in knee-deep crystal clear water. An experience holding a large ray! Did some snorkeling along shore while others hugged a ray. That was the best part of the excursion.

 

Not much time to do actual snorkeling so if you really want to get your money's worth and focus on snorkeling, choose an excursion that's at least four hours and takes you to only two locations, otherwise you'll end up spending only about half an hour actually in the water when you factor in the safety speech the crew gives you and travel time to and from Grand Turk port/beach where you embark and disembark water excursions.

 

Our crew was great and very safety conscious. They did a head count to ensure nobody was left behind. They were very patient with first time snorkelers and had a great sense of humor in dealing with a family of complainers. I'd return to Grand Turk and do a snorkel excursion again but without the ray encounter.