Native Way Watersports

[Millashka]

I know they are great. But RRR tour is booked solid and Sharon proposed "Rays, Coral Garden and Star Fish Snorkel" tour. Can someone recomend this particular one?

[sheephugs]

I know they are great. But RRR tour is booked solid and Sharon proposed "Rays, Coral Garden and Star Fish Snorkel" tour. Can someone recomend this particular one?

 

 

I don't know when you are planning to book, but I'll be taking it next week & will let you know.

[Millashka]

I don't know when you are planning to book, but I'll be taking it next week & will let you know.

 

I would appreciate that. I am booking for December 2, 2008. I wanted Rays, Reef and Rum Point but they have large private group coming, so they cancelled public tour :-(

[spartygrad95]

We are doing the Stingray Sandbar, Coral Garden and Starfish snorkel on April 16th. Ill be more than happy to let you know how it is. We are excited.

[Cruisekrazy63]

Nativeways is an awesome tour and NOT crowded like alot of the others. I have used another tour company once and Nativeways 3 times. We are doing a land vacation to Grand Cayman for 9 days and we will use Nativeways again. Sharon and Eldon are so nice and all of their employees are wonderful as well.

[shrimp0]

We have done several tours with Nativeway. We just did the rays, coral garden and starfish tour ( just a few weeks ago). They will pick you up and take you by boat to the sand bar to swim with the sting rays. Then, you will travel by boat about 5-10 minutes to the coral garden area to snorkel. You will see a lot of bright colored fish... and the captain will usually try to bring fish close to the boat by feeding them. We fed the fish fresh conch and our boat captain even made some conch salad for us to try!!!!

Another 5 or so minutes away is the starfish area. This is an area in the water where the bottom is just covered with starfish of different sizes. A really neat snorkel area.

 

I think the only tour we have not done with nativeway is the rays/reef and rum point. It is my understanding that with that one you are dropped off at rum point beach. However, with the other tour, if you want to be dropped off at 7 mile beach, they will do that for you. So, really it just depends what you are looking for with the tour. If you want to see the rays and do some snorkeling... the rays and snorkeling will be great!!!!!

[maggieworkman]

Did you have to fax them your Credit Card information to reserve your spots? Any problems with this? It makes me a little nervous.

 

Maggie

[Jungle Jane]

Did you have to fax them your Credit Card information to reserve your spots? Any problems with this? It makes me a little nervous.

 

Maggie

 

 

We faxed ours no sweat, then I emailed a few days later and asked her to confirm that she'd gotten it and she had, no sweat.

 

They're VERY trustworthy, are not out to rip you off, the fax line is a secure one.

 

Enjoy Grand Cayman and Native Way!

[allesonwonderland]

We did the Stingray/coral/starfish tour last week and really liked it. The RRR boat was packed, but there was only my family of 4 and another couple on our boat--talk about personalized attention!!

 

Sharon was great as well, I'd certainly use Nativeways again. We stopped at 7 mile beach on our way back to the ship and the kids had a blast.

[jct]

We did the Stingray, Coral Gardens, and Starfish tour with Nativeway on the 5th of March. It was EXCELLENT! This was our 2nd tour with them and if/when we ever get to go back to the Cayman Islands they are the only ones I will go with. I almost booked with another company this time and I'm SO GLAD I didn't because their boat ended up being at one of the spots about the same time as ours with Nativeway and it was PACKED! It was smaller than the cruiseship excursion and some of the other companies, but STILL it was much larger than I would have been comfortable with because I was the only adult taking 3 kids on this excursion while my dh went with scuba diving with our oldest dd.

 

I had a 15, 10, and 4 yo. I was able to leave our 4 yo on the boat without ever once having to wonder if he was safe with the boat driver. The two guides went above and beyond (and I tipped them well for it) to make the tour enjoyable for our 4 yo who was afraid to get in the water. They brought a starfish right up to the edge of the boat so he could touch it and look at it. I was able to stay with him by the ladder so he could reach into the water and feel one of the Stingrays, etc. I tried to get him in the water at the Coral Gardens, but he didn't want to and I didn't push it since the water is salty and it would have stung his eyes if he got water in his eyes, etc.

 

There were probably only 10 or 12 of us altogether on the boat with 3 people from Nativeway and one photographer. It was VERY PERSONALIZED we were not rushed at any spots. They took time to explain things to the kids and were very patient with the 2 older ones who were a little leery of getting in the water with the stingrays.

 

You'll LOVE this tour! We couldn't believe how big the starfish were. You could see them clear down on the water from way up in the boat. It was GREAT!

 

I hope you enjoy your excursion.

 

Cynthia

[Jungle Jane]

We had a group of 25 but that was split between 2 boats since half was a party of 12. We had 2 guides plus a photog and after we went down the channel we got separated from the other boat (intentionally I assume) So with just 12 others on the boat all had a great time with very personalized attention given to all.

 

The have a cooler with water and punch plus room for you to put your own drink bottle if you want. We each brought a towel but didn't really need it b'c we stayed wet pretty much the whole time and the towel got wet quickly too, BUT it came handy when it was time to sneak the big CONCH shell our guide dove and got us! (shhhhh!)

 

They also had a big barrel of fresh water on the boat and everyone got a "Caribbean Shower" when we were done in the water so that we weren't all covered in salt as we dried off on the way to Rum Point. The guides were fabulous, worked their butts off and kept us entertained and safe and seemed to really enjoy what they were doing.

 

The other boats that were in the area with us at SRC or when we were snorkeling were so packed, top and bottom decks, it was ridiculous. The NW boat we were on was a simple 1 deck with plenty of seating and walk-around room for all, a small changing room and bathroom below, plus whoever wanted was invited to ride up in the (small) steering tower thingy or up front on the bow.

 

Can't say enough good about this company and this tour!!!!!

[fern1226]

Did you have to fax them your Credit Card information to reserve your spots? Any problems with this? It makes me a little nervous.

 

Maggie

 

You can always call Sharon or ask her to call you and give her the CC# over the phone. She didn't receive our fax so I ended up giving her our info over the phone.

We are booked for June. We did the RRR in 2005 and loved it.

[sheephugs]

I know they are great. But RRR tour is booked solid and Sharon proposed "Rays, Coral Garden and Star Fish Snorkel" tour. Can someone recomend this particular one?

 

 

Sorry Millashka but due to high winds & waves we were unable to stop there last week so I can't give a review. It was so disappointing...that is my favorite island!

[Terre]

Is giving your cc info something new? We've used NativeWay three times and have always just booked by e-mail and paid cash at the end of the tour.

[maggieworkman]

Is giving your cc info something new? We've used NativeWay three times and have always just booked by e-mail and paid cash at the end of the tour.

 

I was asked to give our CC info to hold our spots. I still plan to pay with cash at the end of the tour because there is a service charge if you pay by CC.

 

I'm not 100% sure my mom will snorkle. Will she still have a good time if she doesn't? Are any of the spots on the Stingray, coral, and Starfish tour in shallow enough water for her to stand and look down? She isn't so crazy about the idea of putting on the mask and putting her face in the water.

 

Thanks,

Maggie

[andy50]

[

(The have a cooler with water and punch plus room for you to put your own drink bottle if you want). Does that mean you can bring your own refreshments on board(like beer) for Rum Point? Also is there a changing area or does everyone get off the tender ready to snorkel.

[Jungle Jane]

[

(The have a cooler with water and punch plus room for you to put your own drink bottle if you want). Does that mean you can bring your own refreshments on board(like beer) for Rum Point? Also is there a changing area or does everyone get off the tender ready to snorkel.

 

Not sure if there's any rule against you bringing beer...RP sells alcohol so I'm not sure if they'll let you bring your own, doubtful...

 

There is a small changing area on the boat we went on, but everyone came in swimsuits and coverups or shorts or whatever, ready to go. Everyone on our trip was dry again by the time we got to RP so the coverups and shorts or whatever went back on for lunch, then we all grabbed either a lounge chair or a patch of beach or went back in the water or sat and DRANK from the bar :) :) :)

[Terre]

Maggie, I don't snorkel either and the water where NativeWay took us is shallow enough that you can stand up in and still see the rays. They swim all around you and brush against your legs...it's really neat. I can't put that mask on either!!! I know how your mom feels about that.

[Jungle Jane]

Maggie, I don't snorkel either and the water where NativeWay took us is shallow enough that you can stand up in and still see the rays. They swim all around you and brush against your legs...it's really neat. I can't put that mask on either!!! I know how your mom feels about that.

 

We brought our own masks and snorkles. The mask was fine, but the snorkle made me panic a bit, felt smothered in the face. I ended up just letting the snorkle float and just held my breath when I went under. I swim in my pool regularly in season and I do much better with goggles (eyes only) rather than the full mask that covers the nose to. If doing laps then I have nose pinchers also, but those are pretty funny looking and I don't think you'd want to wear those in public...???

 

Anyway, just a suggestion for someone who is freaked out by the mask, try the goggle type instead and just pinch your nose when you go under. You HAVE to go look under there...soooooooooo cool! I was worried that if I saw what was under there I wouldn't want to be in the water with all that, but that totally wasn't the way. I LOVED looking around under the water. A lot of what I did was just float on the surface looking down and around. LOVED it :) Here is a sample of what I took for pics underwater-these have been posed a zillion times but what the heck, a zillion and one won't hurt...

 

 

 

[dis2cruise]

i booked the rays, reef, and rum point tour and my email states they give you a grilled lunch?? What do they serve just incase my dd is picky that day lol!!

 

thanks!

[sstamm]

[

(The have a cooler with water and punch plus room for you to put your own drink bottle if you want). Does that mean you can bring your own refreshments on board(like beer) for Rum Point? Also is there a changing area or does everyone get off the tender ready to snorkel.

 

We arrived at Rum Point by land last week, since the snorkel part of our excursion was cancelled due to wind and choppy water. At the entrance is a sign that says "No outside food or beverage."

 

Hope that helps!

[sstamm]

i booked the rays, reef, and rum point tour and my email states they give you a grilled lunch?? What do they serve just incase my dd is picky that day lol!!

 

thanks!

 

Can't remember everything on the menu, but some in our group had chicken tenders, club sandwich, blackened mahi, cheesburger, and a large salad. The conch fritters were quite good. In fact, we thought all the food was good. My son had chicken tenders and french fries.

 

Someplace in the past I think I remember someone posting a more extensive listing of what they served.

 

Have a good time!

[Jungle Jane]

i booked the rays, reef, and rum point tour and my email states they give you a grilled lunch?? What do they serve just incase my dd is picky that day lol!!

 

thanks!

 

When you are on the boat on the way they will pass around a menu and take your order and then phone it in so it's ready for you shortly after you get to RP. There is a good selection on the menu-burgers, hot dogs, chicken, and their specialty-seafood. I KNOW DD will find something on the menu she likes.

 

Enjoy!