driving distance to turtle farm & hell

[muffyn]

we probably will rent a car.

how long will it take to drive from the port to the turtle farm & hell?

what are the peak traffic periods along that road?

 

thanks!

[drew sailbum]

If you are spending the day along the west side then I would NOT suggest renting a car. Generally a rental car is needed if you plan any stops anywhere east of Grand Harbour (location of the Black Pearl Skate Park).

 

From the airport rental locations to Hell is about 8 miles. It's another 2 minute drive through mostly residental areas to the Turtle Farm.

 

There is a real morning rush hour (7:30-9:00am) going into town from West Bay and a reverse in the evening from about 4:30-6:00pm. Traffic picks up over lunch (11:30am-2:00pm). Days with more cruise ships will keep the road busier with buses and taxis.

[RizzoLee]

I second the PP's info - when we went, the driver brought us back at about 2pm, and traffic was really backed up along Seven Mile Beach - he said there's some days in the mid afternoon where no one gets anywhere because of the traffic along that strip, and it's faster to walk!

 

Made me glad I booked an earlier excursion!

[muffyn]

question .

 

why NOT to rent a car?

 

last time we did the taxi rental we have problems. we specified we ONLY wanted to go to Hell & the turtle farm. (we had 8 in our party) . they kept adding more people to 'our' taxi & somehow it turned into a tour of the city, the 2nd stop I insisted we keep to my original request. finally we did end with the turtle farm & hell , which after all the messing about we only had 20 min at the turtle farm. all this for $15. per person for 2 hours total.

now, I want to be able to spend what time WE want at a stop & not be limited to just a 2 hour tour for more than we can rent a car for. ( there will be 6-8 of us).

our ship will be there from 7-4. but reading the comments on traffic from the west side, how much time can you really expect to spend? (dang I really also wanted to go to rum point)

so explain just what we need to do. (drive 2 hours to west end & then spend 2 hours in traffic?)

<oh, there is a car rental place within walking distance of the port we were thinking of going with>

?????????

[bookbabe]

I think the suggestion is to walk to the closer places or take a taxi to each individual destination, rather than to book a taxi "tour" of a number of locations. If you do book a rental car, allow lots of time on the return trip for traffic and rental car return...as others have said, rush hour traffic can be brutal, especially on a heavy cruise ship day.

 

Out of curiosity, what rental car place did you find that is walking distance from the port? Maybe we have a different definition of what's walkable? :D

[muffyn]

I think the suggestion is to walk to the closer places or take a taxi to each individual destination, rather than to book a taxi "tour" of a number of locations. If you do book a rental car, allow lots of time on the return trip for traffic and rental car return...as others have said, rush hour traffic can be brutal, especially on a heavy cruise ship day.

 

Out of curiosity, what rental car place did you find that is walking distance from the port? Maybe we have a different definition of what's walkable? :D

 

problem was we didn't WANT a tour.

when we went to the taxi 'stand' we specifically said we ONLY wanted to go to hell & turtle farm. !ONLY! . but after the cab was loaded (grrr) the driver insisted that the city tour was soooooo much better & me, not being outspoken at the time ( as the new people in the cab promptly forgot I told them this was a cab only going to turtle & hell) got offtrack.

 

(ok, looking at the car website, http://www.caymanautorentals.net/ , even though it says walking, looks like about twice as far as cap marvins building, which we have walked to... yes? no?)

 

so what do YOU suggest then.? we want to be able to spend our own time 'choice' at hell & turtle farm & beach/bar stop & NOT be hindered by extras in a cab or the drivers NEED to return to the port to pick up more paying customers... their 30 min stop at turtle farm is not going to cut it.....

 

the taxi people at the port are pretty dang insistant on filling those taxis to the brim & doing a SET tour!!

 

& I certainly don't want to pay for or waste a drivers time to wait for an hour or 2 at each stop we want to go to.

(plus I need time to buy stamps & mail letters at Hell)

 

& then I need to know what time the hell post office opens & turtle farm..

[Ren1216]

Ive never done this in GC but why dont you just try hiring a taxi again for a few hours? Be very direct with what you want, they speak perfectly good English, make sure they know you only want this and that... agree on a price and a private ride... and then off ya go! Dont pay until you get what you want. Dont accept any thing other than what you have agreed to.

[bookbabe]

Hmmm...I'm not sure what to suggest. I think the problem may have started with the fact that you wanted two stops, both common "tour stops" which made it a lot easier for the driver to turn what you thought was a taxi ride into a tour.

 

You might have to pay extra to get a taxi to yourself if your group doesn't fill the taxi, but you might try just hiring the taxi for each direction or stop separately, rather than a roundtrip. I'm assuming that you don't want to spend that long at Hell (it's a bit over-rated) so you could always have a taxi take you there first, wait for a few minutes until you were done mailing postcards, then take you to the Turtle Farm and drop you off but not wait. Then, whenever you were done there you could call for a taxi to take you back to the port or the beach, etc. It might be more expensive overall, but at least you'd be in control of where and when you went.

 

I'm not familiar with that rental place, but looking at the map on their website may be walkable if you're an active type. It's not what I'd call close, but you'd be the better judge of what you can walk or not. I'd still recommend playing it very safe with the times if you do rent...as has been said, traffic can be brutal sometimes, and if you're not familiar with the shortcuts and side streets, you could get held up and miss the last tender. West Bay isn't that far, really, but it's plenty far if you're in stop-and-go traffic, staring at your watch... :(

 

Good luck with whatever you decide to do!

[Tikibird]

problem was we didn't WANT a tour.

when we went to the taxi 'stand' we specifically said we ONLY wanted to go to hell & turtle farm. !ONLY! . but after the cab was loaded (grrr) the driver insisted that the city tour was soooooo much better & me, not being outspoken at the time ( as the new people in the cab promptly forgot I told them this was a cab only going to turtle & hell) got offtrack.

 

(ok, looking at the car website, http://www.caymanautorentals.net/ , even though it says walking, looks like about twice as far as cap marvins building, which we have walked to... yes? no?)

 

so what do YOU suggest then.? we want to be able to spend our own time 'choice' at hell & turtle farm & beach/bar stop & NOT be hindered by extras in a cab or the drivers NEED to return to the port to pick up more paying customers... their 30 min stop at turtle farm is not going to cut it.....

 

the taxi people at the port are pretty dang insistant on filling those taxis to the brim & doing a SET tour!!

 

& I certainly don't want to pay for or waste a drivers time to wait for an hour or 2 at each stop we want to go to.

(plus I need time to buy stamps & mail letters at Hell)

 

& then I need to know what time the hell post office opens & turtle farm..

Muffyn, I am similar to you, I don't like set tours and being told how to allocate my time because other people have to be considered. I have been looking into public transport. Actually, we will probably HAVE to do a tour for the stingrays as you require a boat to get out there, but then we will hop out either at Hell or the Turtle Farm and use the bus to get back to the port. We will allow two hours before ship departure and if we arrive back at the port early just hit the stores. The link to bus routes is in the sticky at the top of this board.

[jean-lynd]

Tikibird, I may have misunderstood but you state that you want to "hop out" at Hell or the Turtle Farm after your stingray city tour. I just want to make sure that you know that you will not pass Hell or the Turtle Farm on your way back to the pier after your stingray city trip.

 

I hope this helps!

[CSKoehler]

 

so what do YOU suggest then.? we want to be able to spend our own time 'choice' at hell & turtle farm & beach/bar stop & NOT be hindered by extras in a cab or the drivers NEED to return to the port to pick up more paying customers... their 30 min stop at turtle farm is not going to cut it.....

 

the taxi people at the port are pretty dang insistant on filling those taxis to the brim & doing a SET tour!!

 

& I certainly don't want to pay for or waste a drivers time to wait for an hour or 2 at each stop we want to go to.

(plus I need time to buy stamps & mail letters at Hell)

 

& then I need to know what time the hell post office opens & turtle farm..

 

Last time we were in port we hired a driver and he took us to Hell & turtle farm plus a stop at 7 mile beach as we requested. I don't remember getting off that intinerary. Maybe look for a driver who has a vehicle that will only fit your party so they can't add along the way. ;)

[muffyn]

Last time we were in port we hired a driver and he took us to Hell & turtle farm plus a stop at 7 mile beach as we requested. I don't remember getting off that intinerary. Maybe look for a driver who has a vehicle that will only fit your party so they can't add along the way. ;)

 

 

so they have smaller taxis than the 10 pax ones? ( we didn't see any the last time)

so you remember how much your taxi trip was? & how long you stayed at each stop? did you get dropped off at 7 mile beach? (Or did the taxi wait?)

what time did you start? & how far ahead of your ship leaving did you return?

thanks

[CSKoehler]

so they have smaller taxis than the 10 pax ones? ( we didn't see any the last time)

so you remember how much your taxi trip was? & how long you stayed at each stop? did you get dropped off at 7 mile beach? (Or did the taxi wait?)

what time did you start? & how far ahead of your ship leaving did you return?

thanks

 

It's been awhile since we were there so I'm trying to remember the details. I know we had no specific plans - just tendered to the port and started milling around. We probably went after the 'main crowd' so maybe that was good - they didn't have a mob left to fill into those vans. A man approached us and asked if we wanted to do a tour and quoted an amount. I don't think it was over $20pp. Ended up he was a policeman who did this on the side. We went to the turtle farm, Hell and 7 Mile Beach plus other places but nothing as memorable as those 3. He waited while we toured it all. We had time to shop in town near the port on our own after the tour so I know we had plenty of time to do that and shop. I do remember another couple being with us which made it interesting for us as sometimes other people ask stuff you don't think of. So...maybe wait before tendering and you will get your own private tour for your family and not have others in with you. Hope this helps.

[Tikibird]

Tikibird, I may have misunderstood but you state that you want to "hop out" at Hell or the Turtle Farm after your stingray city tour. I just want to make sure that you know that you will not pass Hell or the Turtle Farm on your way back to the pier after your stingray city trip.

 

I hope this helps!

Oops, I worded that a bit wrongly. I think they do pass by 7 Mile Beach and you can get a mini bus from there? At least to the Turtle Farm if not Hell?