Six Senses Cayman Adventures — Local services in West Bay

If you like to breath unhealthy amounts of gasoline and mosquito repellant, this is the tour for you. We were picked up by the Six Senses bus from our hotel. Once inside the bus there was an oppressive and overwhelming smell of gasoline in the bus. Two elderly women were in the back. One was coughing because the gasoline smell was so bad and had to use her asthma inhaler to breath. We asked what the smell was and the driver (also one of the tour guides) explained the gas pumps in Grand Cayman do not automatically turn off when gas tanks are full and the tank recently overflowed when he filled gas and this is something that happens all the time. Unlikely story as we rented two cars and sat in two other buses during our time here that had no gasoline smell issues. The boat ride to the bio bay was nice but once we got to the bay there was another overwhelming smell. When I asked the tour guides about the smell, they pointed us to the sounds of blowers on land and explained the smell is a safe mosquito repellant called pyrethrum. However, if you look up the actually chemical used on the Cayman Islands Mosquito Research Control Unit website you will learn the chemical is a synthetic chemical insecticide which is low in toxicity to mammals and are toxic to fish and to bees. Wonderful. The ride home in the bus was just as bad with an overwhelming and oppressive smell of gasoline still in the bus. Even with the windows down one could hardly breath. And just when I thought the worst was behind us the driver started to tell a story of how WD40 is non-toxic and actually has healing properties if sprayed on your skin. What an amazing ending to a trip that gave me a stomach ache from the toxic smells. A final note, if you want to participate in the bio luminescent swim, you have to wear used skin suits to prevent skin irritation...

First of all, I'm generally cynical with the claims on what you will see and experience on tour advertisements! This tour absolutely delivered on what you would see and do - if you only do one thing on your visit to Grand Cayman then do the ecotour with Six Senses!!

Capt. Paul arrived at our hotel for pickup bang on time!! The dock was only a short drive from our hotel! When we get to the boat we are met by a very friendly first mate Vernon! The boat was a very clean medium-sized pontoon-style, which meant everyone had a great view and was easy to move around on!

We headed straight to stingray city before the crowds got there - this was truly amazing! I have no idea how Vernon did it but the lady stingrays just loved him! After spending 30 mins or so there we moved a short distance to the reef for snorkeling - the wind and current were a little strong, but again Vernon helped us see amazing sea life and even a baby turtle! Then a short cruise over to starfish point, which was fascinating and Capt Paul taught us how to catch little invisible jellyfish (you will have to go on the tour to find out how!!) A great lunch at Rum Point then a very interesting sail through the mangroves with Capt Paul telling us about the history of the island and the various little sea creatures he had gathered. Finally a fast speed across the bay back to the dock via some very nice but expensive houses!

A truly wonderful experience, I cannot recommend...

Our Six Senses tour blew our minds. Of course, the experience of being near the beautiful and amazing stingrays was out of this world, but our two guides were fantastic - knowledgeable and friendly. You may ask what stands out about this tour company. I did a lot of research - Six Senses (we took the ECO Tour - which included a variety: Mangrove tour which was fascinating and educational - highly recommend!, Snorkeling stop, Starfish point, Kaibo Beach (stop for lunch - make sure to try the pizza so good), and of course - the stingrays (ask to see snowflake)). THE BEST part is that Six Senses times their stops to avoid the huge crowds at Starfish and the Stingrays which pretty much guarantees that you won't be there with a gazillion other folks. When we saw the Stingrays, there was only one other boat there and it looked to be a private boat. ALSO, Six Senses has small tours. You don't want to try and interact with the Stingrays with 50 or 60 other people (or even 35 or 30). I believe the ECO Tour has a max of 15. Our tour had 12. My only regret? Not doing it again while we were there! For excitement and a great view, make sure to sit in the front corner of the boat (furthers from the captain's post). You'll get wet, but isn't...