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Private Boat Charters in the Cayman Islands
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Project Description

Eco Tour Grand Cayman

An Educational Tour of Grand Cayman’s Most Valued Ecosystem

eco tour Grand CaymanSlow cruising through the red mangrove forest as the sun begins to set is the perfect way to end any day. These mangroves play a vital role in our ecosystem and are essential for the islands well-being. During your eco tour of the mangroves, our educated captains will teach you and the little ones all about our ecosystem as we journey through these enchanting forests.

What are Mangroves?

Mangroves are groups of trees and shrubs that live in saltwater and can only be found growing along tropical coastlines. They have an intricate root system, called prop roots that look a lot like tentacles giving the trees a very exquisite look. These striking roots are often submerged in the water, while the rest of the tree lives above the water line. This structure makes for a very unique habitat for all different kinds of island wildlife.

Why Mangroves matter?

“If there are no mangrove forests, then the sea will have no meaning. It is like having a tree with no roots, for the mangroves are the roots of the sea.”

Mangroves provide the foundation for the food chain that feeds all marine life found in the Cayman Islands. They act as an important nursery area for small fish and invertebrates. The roots provide a shelter like sanctuary to protect these fish from hungry predators while also providing a rich source of food – creating an ideal environment for these juveniles to grow and thrive. The waters of Cayman are teeming with vast aquatic wildlife because of the essential functions these mangroves provide.

As you travel around the Cayman Islands you will find yourself surrounded by crystal- clear waters – this is thanks to the unique and complex root system of the mangroves which filter out sediment and other pollutants. This amazing root system also helps prevent shoreline erosion, protects against coastal storms by reducing the impacts of waves and distributes important nutrients for surrounding ecosystems.

Mangrove wood is resistant to rot making it great for creating furniture, building boats, houses and fishing gear for the surrounding coastal communities. Medicinal plants can also be found within the mangrove ecosystems which communities use for their healing properties.

Red Mangroves

All plants need fresh water to live but not the red mangroves, they make it themselves! Adaptation allows them to desalinate seawater through reverse osmosis—taking in water and leaving the salt behind.
Another distinct feature of the red mangroves is that they actually grow in the water. When it comes to reproduction, mangrove trees do it like no other. The red mangroves have very large seeds which is actually a small plant with roots that are already growing. When it falls from the parent tree it can grow on the muddy sediments below the tree or float in open water for many months until the roots find a suitable spot to grow.

Black mangroves

These grow where there is shallow water during high tides. Since they thrive in shallow waters, their roots are modified to act as snorkels to help the plants breathe since the soil is normally too thick. Unlike their red counterparts, the black mangrove does not have the salt excursion technology but passes out the salt through salt glands on the leaves. You can actually see the salt crystals forming on the upper parts of the leaves, or if you don’t have a keen eye, you can always give it a taste!

White mangrove

This is the distant cousin of the mangrove family since it normally grows on dry land. White mangrove trees have straight trunks covered Sulphur yellow lichen which makes it appear pale at a distance.

Learn about Biodiversity in the Mangroves on our Eco Tour

After learning how this magnificent mangrove forest provides an extensive food web and shelter from predators, it comes as no surprise to discover wildlife of all kinds thriving within this environment. This complex ecosystem provides a home for iguanas, parrots, juvenile sea turtles, crabs, mussels, snails, shrimp and a variety of fish, bird and insect species. Here you will also find some of the most unique species of aquatic wildlife that include: octopi, sea horses, starfish, floating sea anemones, orange sponges and even upside down jellyfish! The mangrove forest is a dream come true for all nature and animal lovers!

Adventures


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Carrie HebertCarrie Hebert
20:31 28 Jul 23
Just wanted to thank you all for securing us a wonderful charter. From answering my many, many emails to getting us a different boat when the one we booked was under maintenance. The captian and his deck hand were very nice and accommodating to my two young girls. They even talked about mermaids with my 5 year old! They took us to an amazing snorkel spot and helped us have a hands on experience with both the sting rays and starfish! The patience they both had with my toddler who had missed her full nap time was very much appreciated. I can't say enough about the experience they gave our family. This was my husband's and I fourth trip to the island but first charter with you guys, and I guarantee it won't be our last. The girls can't wait to come back and go out on the boat again. I look forward to seeing you all again soon and will definitely recommend you guys.
Liz SnyderLiz Snyder
20:29 14 Jul 23
We cannot say enough wonderful things about Captain Vernon and our absolutely amazing day with him! We went with another family, so 5 kids and 4 adults and every one of us agrees it was our favorite part of the trip! He was so welcoming, knowledgeable, helpful and the boat was perfect. He made everyone feel safe while exploring and we knew we were in very capable hands. He snorkeled with us and was able to point out an AMAZING giant green eel, sea turtle, lobster, barracuda and more. Fresh pineapple awaited us after stops as well as fresh water rinses when we got out of the ocean. The snorkeling spots he took us to were some of the best spots I have ever been to, and they weren't crowded. He is indeed a stingray whisperer and made sure all of us felt comfortable and got lots of photos. The last stop at starfish point was a true treat. You would make a mistake not booking with Captain Vernon!
Julia RutherfordJulia Rutherford
21:56 07 Jul 23
What a wonderful family adventure we had with Crystal Charters! We swam and played with stingrays, went reef fishing, tubed in the ocean, stopped at Rum Point for pizza, interacted with starfish at Star Fish point, experienced the natural phenomenon of the Bio-Bay! We couldn’t have asked for a better experience! We would highly recommend Crystal Charters to anyone visiting the Caymans!
courtney wickscourtney wicks
00:42 08 Jun 23
I cannot say enough about captain Vernon and our trip to sting ray city!!! We have been going to Grand Cayman for over 20 years and always make a visit to Sting Ray city. Vernon was top notch!!! Took us to the best snorkeling places, cut us some fresh pineapple and was kind and professional!! We will definitely use them again!!! Thankful for the great memories!!!
Kaarin PuhalaKaarin Puhala
15:24 04 Jun 23
This was the highlight of our trip to Grand Cayman. Amazing experience and so much better than going on a huge boat with strangers! We were a party of 8 and chartered a boat for 6 hours. Tyrell was a stellar captain and guide. We had thunderstorm issues and ended up splitting our trip into two days to make sure we had the safest and best experience. River was extremely accommodating in dealing with the weather issues. Book with Crystal Charters Cayman and it will be the memory of a lifetime!
Kaylee CaudillKaylee Caudill
13:56 13 Apr 23
We had a wonderful day snorkeling, and hanging out with the stingrays and starfish. Crystal Charters was very helpful making sure we selected the right boat for our party of 13, and the crew onboard were very knowledgeable and friendly. We will definitely book again with Crystal Charters!
Chuck WymanChuck Wyman
00:05 05 Apr 23
River at Crystal Charters did a fantastic job working with us and getting our charter set up on relatively short notice. His level of customer service and follow through is somewhat of a rarity these days. I really appreciate all he did.Our charter day was one the tops of the vacation. Capt Chris took us to stingray city, starfish point, the mangroves, and snorkeling. He even went out, found a couple conch and made the best ceviche. After the tour he called our cab on the way back into the marina so our ride was ready and waiting to take us back to the ship.This charter included full professional service from start to finish including a follow up by River to be sure we enjoyed our tour.If you are searching for a reliable charter with lots of opportunities for fun, Crystal Charters is your one stop shop!
Christine GoffChristine Goff
00:00 18 Mar 23
We booked a four hour excursion for our Grand Cayman port day while on a cruise. Cruise life has a lot of people on it, so booking a private boat was absolutely perfect and needed! Vernon was our guide and he was a gem! He was very flexible with our excursion and is an excellent boat captain. He went out of his way to make sure our kids felt comfortable and got good experiences with the stingrays. Other boats were looking at what he was providing us with jealousy. He was very knowledgeable and very kind talking about Grand Cayman and the people on the island. Definitely would recommend if looking for a private excursion not linked to the cruise. Super easy to coordinate with booking, and super easy to get to with the taxis at the port. The four hour excursion was perfect for a taste of the island.
Lora CLora C
17:13 26 Jan 23
Wonderful! We booked a 4 hour snorkel trip for 6 adults out of Rum Point and had an amazing afternoon. Captain Vernon took us to the coral gardens, coral reef, stingray city, and for a jump in the deep blue. He was very knowledgeable, friendly and professional and helped design a tour to meet our needs. He was also conservation-oriented and seemed to really care about the health of the reef. He also surprised us with fresh fruit and made ceviche on the boat. My friends and I have snorkeled quite a bit in the Caribbean, but this was our first time in Grand Cayman. We were pleasantly surprised to see such a healthy coral reef with a diversity of marine life. Definitely recommend this trip and Captain Vernon!
Amy ReisAmy Reis
19:06 22 Jan 23
I would like to share our AMAZING experience on Jan 1. We took a 5 hour charter on the 26th Sea Fox with Captain Ozmond (Ozzie) and his first hand Joseph. Ozzie and Joseph kept us very safe and made the entire trip enjoyable. We were able to snorkel in 3 different locations- Ozzie showed us the different highlights. Once on boat Ozzie showed a chart about the different fish. Ozzie made certain we experienced all the activities we requested: Stingray City, Starfish Point, sunset on the water and Bioluminescense Bay. We enjoyed dinner at Rum Point at Kaibo. Everything about the charter was spectacular and quite memorable.
Terri RobertsTerri Roberts
23:41 19 Jan 23
Best snorkeling experience I have had yet. The must see places around Grand Cayman were included in our 3 hour trip and it seemed to be the right amount of time to experience the area. The crew was fun and entertaining. Highly recommend Crystal Charter.
Madeline GrahekMadeline Grahek
22:27 19 Jan 23
This was the best part of our trip. Great for kids and adults. We made memories to last a lifetime!!
MIles VanVeckhovenMIles VanVeckhoven
15:57 17 Jan 23
Absolutely spectacular chartering experience with Crystal Charters. I chartered the 32' Tiara for the day and it was perfect for 3 adults and 2 kids! Captain Vernon was absolutely the most exquisite captain I've had the pleasure of meeting in my many years of chartering vessels. His knowledge of the area and the water was among the best. Our kids had a blast and he made sure of it. We watched many other boats struggle while Vernon was able to go dive and find us the biggest stingray to meet. He knew exactly what he was doing and we had many other customers from other vessels trying to come meet our stingray. The response time and booking process was also made easy through River. We plan to go back to Grand Cayman later this year and Crystal Charters and Captain Vernon will be our first call!
arun narangarun narang
23:24 14 Jan 23
We had a great day with Oz and Joseph! We are a family of four and we booked the 26 foot boat for the four of us for 5 hours and had an amazing day! Stingray City, Starfish Island, Rum point for a nice lunch and two snorkelling stops! Our 22 year old and 14 year old loved it! Next time I would take one of their bigger boats! Highly recommend them! Very friendly!
Shane MyersShane Myers
13:29 24 Aug 22
We were on a 7-day cruise and this excursion was the highlight of our entire trip. Can't quite put into words the experience but will say it was AMAZING!!! Swimming with wild sting rays, snorkeling the reef, walking around Star Fish Point, all in 3 hours, was the perfect day and memories. DO NOT take the tour boats that pack in tons of people. This is well worth the extra money to have your own personal experience and you get to take in so much more of what Capt Vernon has to share with you. He was so knowledgeable about the sting rays and was able to find all kinds of sea creatures while snorkeling. Can't say enough good things about this trip.On a side note, I'm sometimes a little nervous on some of these islands and not knowing what you're getting into but I felt safe and secure which really makes it more enjoyable. It was just my daughter and me so I did appreciate the professionalism, safety and quality of the Captain and the boat.
David BegleyDavid Begley
18:15 02 Aug 22
Great experience with captain Vernon. He snorkeled with our 8 year old at the barrier reef and made her feel really safe. Even got to see a sea turtle for good measure. Really good value if you want a private charter but don’t want to spend a ton of money.
lc reecelc reece
02:19 26 Jun 22
Our trip was postponed in March 2020 so this day was a long time coming! We loved our boat, our crew and our whole experience. We didn’t estimate our arrival time correctly due the difference in ship time vs local time but our crew came a half hour early to accommodate us so we didn’t have to wait too long. Oz and Joseph were both personable and fun. We had three generations with us and they were great at connecting with both our young adult kids as well as our parents. Our daughter was hesitant to get near the stingray but ended up kissing and holding her! Oz used the perfect amount of encouragement and persistence in getting her to do it. And she was so pleased that she did! Loved seeing the mangroves, snorkeling and the beach bar. Beach bar was great! The bartenders were personable and the beach beautiful! Not the best time to fish but we managed to catch a couple which was great fun for our older daughter! Starfish point was wonderful and we were treated to some delicious wings. Then to top it off, our younger daughter got to be the captain for a part of the ride back! She LOVED it! As we got close to the dock Oz called for our taxi and entertained us by driving amongst the beautiful homes so we didn’t have to wait on the hot dock. This was a very memorable day for our whole family. We appreciate the professionalism and the fun! Fantastic!
Rachel EspinosaRachel Espinosa
21:22 09 Dec 19
We had an AMAZING trip with Crystal Charters!!!! The two captains we had, Matthew and Hunter, were very professional and patient with our group. They made sure that we were able to do all of the things we wanted to and were very helpful with the stingrays and snorkeling. The booking process was very smooth as well. We were on the WorldCat boat and it was gorgeous - incredibly clean and comfortable. We had six in our group but could easily have had a few more and still been comfortable. I would highly recommend Crystal Charters!!! You will not regret it, our entire group said it was the best six hours we spent on the island!
Tom HurlbutTom Hurlbut
00:28 22 Nov 19
Captain Benjie and crew, Shirley and Alex, were knowledgeable and went above and beyond to make sure our trip was everything we could have hoped for. The boat was comfortable, the snorkeling was beautiful and the visit to stingray city was superb. Definitely do the bioluminescent bay experience too...amazing! We had such a good time with them, we chartered the next day to try some fishing. While we didn’t catch any record-breakers, the day on the water with their hospitality and knowledge was everything we could gave asked for! Many thanks for the great experiences and we hope to see you again!
Rhianna ThomasRhianna Thomas
02:49 20 Nov 19
We had an amazing experience with Captain Benji, Slim and Shirley. We were able to do some snorkeling, pet a stingray and then went deep sea fishing. I cannot recommend this charter enough. The booking process was smooth and Kristie was always quick to answer any questions I had. We will definitely use Crystal Charters again. To top off the whole trip, we caught a wahoo and now get to have our fish for dinner tomorrow. How cool is that?!?
Courtney BuysseCourtney Buysse
16:11 17 Nov 19
We chose Crystal Charters as our excursion during our stop in Grand Cayman and we definitely made the right decision. We had the best time ever! We had 2 families made up of adults and children and they came up with the perfect activities that everyone loved. They helped the kids learn to snorkel and made then comfortable swimming with sting rays. The absolute best time of our entire trip!
Michael KirchnerMichael Kirchner
20:47 15 Oct 19
We had a great day on the 45 foot boat with Sheldon and Mikey. We didn’t think we needed to feed the stingrays, but we had a great time there. Mikey introduced us to a stingray that he has been friends with for many years. We went snorkeling in several locations and saw beautiful fish and a moray eel. They also took us to Rum Point and Starfish Beach. They were very relaxed and not concerned about time. Sheldon was an excellent captain as well. Crystal Charters was very easy to work with. We highly recommend them.
Stefani PegramStefani Pegram
06:41 13 Mar 19
Amazing! Take the sunrise charter! It is sure not to disappoint! The Stingray Tour was the best thing ive ever done in my life! Friendly and informative guide!
P WP W
06:55 22 Jan 19
The 7 of us went on a bioluminescence tour last night and had an amazing time! Captain Alex and Liz were incredibly professional and shared interesting information about the bay and the biology throughout our trip. I was using a cane and had slight mobility challenges but they were kindly checking in with me and helping me move around the deck.We all agreed it was one of the most unique things we've ever experienced. Thanks again Alex and Liz for such a fun evening! :)By the way, it's a bit tough to take photos of the bioluminescence, for reference, I was using a Google Pixel 3 XL phone in "night sight" mode as well as a Sony RX100 M5 for the photos that I've posted.
B ButlerB Butler
01:36 09 Jan 19
Thank You Crystal Charters, and especially Slim and Duncan for a fantastic afternoon and evening! My wife and I, and our 2 teenage daughters had an awesome day with you guys!! Crystal provided a personalized and unique experience by customizing our trip to include a pickup at Kaibo, followed by afternoon reef fishing and snorkeling. Slim and Duncan then dropped us off at Camama Bay for dinner. After dinner, they took us to do the bioluminescence swim (a must-do) and back to our drop-off at Kaibo.I highly recommend Crystal Charters, and Slim and Duncan! This was the highlight of our entire week in Grand Cayman!!
Barry BakerBarry Baker
02:16 25 Oct 18
Fabulous trip, personalized service from captain and crew.
Knk NKnk N
02:18 29 May 18
This company went above and beyond our expectations! The crew was fantastic.
alex mederalex meder
13:49 22 Nov 16
First time exploring the beautiful island of Grand Cayman with Crystal Charters gave me a true appreciation for the island. The gin clear waters, mixed with playful stingrays, fantastic weather, and a great crew makes for a truly special day. Michael takes pride in his work, which is easy to notice the moment you make an inquiry with Crystal Charters. The service is catered to you with your own private boat and crew. Add on hours of Caribbean fun and some delicious food from around the island; makes for no less then a five star trip.
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