George's Watersports — Local services in West Bay

My wife arranged for us and our two children to do the Stingray City / Starfish Point / Reef Snorkeling trip as well as the Bioluminescent Tour with George’s Watersports. We could not have been happier with our choice! Mikol (pronounced Michael) and Nick were our tour guides. The were both extremely friendly, kind, and helpful. Being in a smaller group with such knowledgeable guides made both excursions more personal and much less chaotic than what we witnessed from many of the other companies. George’s is highly attentive to the needs of their patrons and safety seems to be a prime consideration from start to finish. In fact, upon arriving at the reef snorkeling site, Mikol noticed that there was a swimmer from another operator who was in distress. He and Nick immediately responded to the needs of that swimmer and prevented a potential catastrophe.

Stingray City is a “must do” for anyone who has never been! It is a unique experience to interact with creatures that many people will never experience up close otherwise. The rays are very comfortable with humans and exhibit no aggression. Both Mikol and Nick are very knowledgeable of these creatures, their habits and behaviors. They seem to be experts in handling the rays and in teaching their patrons to handle the animals properly and gently. There was an opportunity to feed the rays as part of the excursion, and and Nick were instrumental in capturing pictures of their patrons handling the rays, petting them, etc.

The Bioluminescent Tour was an incredible experience - like nothing I have ever known or likely will! Again, our guides were Mikol and Nick, and again they demonstrated the same care, regard for safety, expertise, and respect for the Cayman ecosystems as our initial excursion! Doing this in a small group is even more vital to the full experience than the other excursions, as the more people there are splashing or moving vigorously in your immediate environment diminishes your ability to fully witness the other aquatic life which can be seen in the dark - bioluminescent jellyfish, other fish and aquatic life which are made visible by the bioluminescent plankton. As opposed to kayaking through the water, swimming in the water at night with only a small group of people enables a completely different experience! This was possibly the most fascinating aquatic experience I have ever had - fresh water or oceanic!

Mikol and Nick are both natives of the Caymans and their reverence for the islands and the biodiversity and uniqueness of the particular ecosystems found there comes through in the entire operation. George’s gets a five star review from our family... we will definitely use them again next time we’re here. Pricing is very competitive with other operators and the small group sizes and attention to safety leave little reason to...

I SEE WHY THEY SELL OUT. I am SO glad I listened to Googlers and Trip Advisor reviewers and went with George's. I feel so strongly positive about this company that, instead of lounging with my book, I'm writing this review while we're still here on vacation.

My husband, my mom, and my 3-yr old and I did the 5-stop Eco Tour today. The staff was communicative ahead of time with questions I had about my daughter and letting us know we were still on after the earthquake. The day of, they couldn't have been more helpful, and not in a pushing-hard-for-tips way, just a genuinely happy-to-be-there approach. Thomas and Shawn were so sweet to my 3 yr old. The boat was brand new, large and roomy, and sat well in the water so that my seasickness-prone husband wasn't bothered at all. The timing was perfect, arriving at the stops before the thousands of cruise shippers descended. They were thoughtful in the timing of photos at various sites. The family photo of all of us holding starfish is a good candidate for Christmas cards. Thomas and Shawn obviously love their island and the wildlife and educated us as well as entertained us.

My husband and I also did the nighttime bioluminescence tour. There is no way to describe adequately how incredible this experience is. If you're on Cayman during the 2.5 weeks/month that they do it, just go. All the above comments apply plus...WOW. Bioluminescence.

Sometimes on these sorts of tours, I look around with envy at other groups and wish I'd done more homework and picked a different group. This time I was absolutely sure we'd chosen the best.

GO WITH...

The Bioluminescence Bay Trip was simply amazing! Only 6 locations in the world can offer this experience so don’t miss it! It was in my bucket list for a while. But it was better than I expected. I thought it would be just a bright cloud, but it’s like billions of little fireflies that light up bright white/purplish color. The plankton here is so big and fat, each is like a grain of sugar. Looking in the water with a mask was unbelievable. Blackness with absolutely clear bright billions of stars, each so bright that it lights up area about 1/2 an inch around it. Poor kayakers that passed us didn’t even know what they are missing. Perfect pitch black moonless night. Bucket list, check!

The crew was excellent so they deserved a nice tip. They were very attentive and also very alert on the boat so I felt safe with them in a pitch black ocean racing at high speed.

One star was subtracted as we were escorted at he very end of the boat while all other folks set upfront. Being at the end of the boat and staring at the console made my 12-year old sea sick so he vomited when we got to Bio Bay and missed half the swim time. I asked them to seat him upfront and he was fine on the way back. We took many boat trips before, including one the day before and he never felt sea sick. I am 100% positive it was us sitting in the back bench staring at the console (like being inside the boat while it is moving) made him sick.

Some tips: being windbreaker so you can put it over your suit to stay warm. Check moon rise and set. Do a trip...