While planning our cruise excursions, my friend and I discovered and booked the Grand Turk Exclusive Supreme Snorkeling Tour and it was nothing short of AMAZING! We traveled to Grand Turk on a cruise and Exclusive Escape Tours made our entire week!! From start to finish, there was excellent communication throughout the booking process.
The Exclusive Escape Tours tent was extremely easy to spot after debarking the ship. It is an easy walk down the beach to their tent and only took about ten minutes to get to.
If you are visiting for the day from a cruise ship this tour is the perfect day in Grand Turk. The tour departs about an hour after the cruise ship docks so I would suggest looking at the shops as you arrive. The shops close early so you do not have much time to look when you return from the excursion. If you purchase a souvenir there is a dry cubby space on the boat to put your bags so no worries there!
When we arrived, we were greeted ever so kindly, given snorkels, fitted for flippers to assist swimming in the water, and given an excellent overview about safety and what we were to expect throughout the tour. It certainly put our minds at ease. The encounter was personal, which I appreciate above all, and we were a small group of 10-12 people which was absolutely perfect, especially for a first time snorkeler like my friend. It was just enough to feel safe without feeling like there was a crowd.
Captain Eric and First Mate Martial were the best tour guides we could have ever hoped for. Their knowledge and passion shined through in everything they did. Captain Eric made sure that we were on the boat and in the water on time, the reefs for snorkeling were truly so beautiful and the wall “drop off” wasn’t nearly as scary as I thought! First Mate Martial was always in the water with you to act as a guide, feed the fish so you could have as much interaction with them as possible, and he even took our go pro to the bottoms to help us get the best video footage and pictures possible!
While snorkeling at our first two stops we saw some beautiful coral and fans along with colorful fish that would swim all around you. On our third stop, we do not get into the water but Martial dives in and looks for conch. He found three conch and a huge starfish. Before moving to the next location, he gently returned the starfish to the sea.
I definitely recommend the Exclusive Supreme Tour over the Ultimate Tour because the experience of swimming with the stingrays, interacting with them, getting pictures taken with them, and trying the freshest conch salad EVER was unparalleled. As a person who’s never tried conch before, it was so delicious!!!
Before arriving at Gibbs Cay to interact with the stingrays we were a little apprehensive. However, once there and in the water, we found the stingrays docile and it was exciting to have them swim around you! Martial gently caught a couple stingrays and we posed for photos. I was an amazing experience!
Another must while on Gibbs Cay is to walk to the top of the hill. It is an easy walk up the path and only takes a couple of minutes. The panoramic view from the top is stunning!
Captain Eric and First Mate Martial were the kindest, passionate, most genuine people and they were truly the difference between taking a tour and walking away from a tour feeling like it was the best adventure day of your life! They were so personable and didn’t cease to give us the best information about the islands we visited, the best advice about snorkeling, and were there to help with whatever we needed. We had the best day ever making memories we will never forget. Thank you Exclusive Escapes for being the best part of our trip!!!
