Grand Cayman Kayak Tours

Grand Cayman kayak tours are a great way to see the wildlife in the water and in the mangrove forests that make up so much of Grand Cayman island.

On this page, I have photos and information about some of the things you’ll see.

Mangroves are a species of tree that thrives in brackish and/or salt water. They’re found on the water’s edge where freshwater meets seawater throughout the tropics.

In Grand Cayman, there are three kinds of mangrove, red, black and white, with each having a slightly different tolerance for saltwater. Mangrove wetlands make up almost half of Grand Cayman island, though that proportion is falling as development pushes ever farther into the island’s wilder places.

Among Grand Cayman’s mangroves, the creatures you’re most likely to see are tree crabs.

They don’t grow very big, only hand-sized for the most part, but it is disconcerting to know they’re among the leaves above your head as well as on the roots and branches at either side. However, despite what you might think to look at them, they are fast, agile, confident climbers and they don’t fall on your head as you make your way through the forest.

Not quite so small, in fact meal-sized, this land crab is also using the mangroves to provide a safe refuge from predators, such as humans who like to boil and eat them. Fortunately, land crabs don’t climb into the branches:-)

Mangroves provide such a refuge to wild life that they are essentially the nurseries of the sea world. Fish, and other sea-dwellers, lay their eggs here and the young stay among the roots feeding and growing in comparative safety before heading out to sea when they grown.

One of the things you’re likely to see on Cayman kayak tours is this — the Mermaid’s Wineglass. It’s a single-celled ‘creature’ and is famous for being used to demonstrate the importance of the nucleus in cells. A member of the coral or algae ‘families’, the mermaid’s wineglass’s single-cell forms a stem and cup that looks like a martini glass.

Other common creatures are the upside-down jellyfish and sea-squirts, both soft jelly-like creatures, and baby barracudas and tarpons, which are not so soft and jelly-like!

The upside-down jellyfish gets its name from its way of life. In the shallow waters around the mangrove wetlands, it sits with its jelly ‘cap’ on the seabed and its tentacles wave in the water seiving out passing plankton or other food. They are quite active though and you’ll see them swimming from place to place looking for the best place to ‘fish’, as this one is. 

They have a wonderful dotted pattern around their cap that pulses as they move, which makes them fascinating to watch. And to humans they’re harmless, which means you can ‘tickle’ one when you take a tour with Sea Elements.

Sea squirts are a common creature and they show up in hundreds, if not thousands, of different forms. They catch their food by taking in sea water and squirting it out but keeping the food behind.

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