Ok, this is something I would have normally not cared to see. However, my 20 month old daughter is addicted to turtles right now and I thought this would be amazing for her.

When you arrive all around you in the lobby and gift shop you can smell the fresh money. It's beautiful. You think, 'oh this is going to be great!' Then you pay the 18 cayman dollars and after frowning at the price a moment, we were off to see the turtles.

The first thing you see is a huge tank filled wih huge turtles. It's quite a sight and it made us excited. They really are big and pretty. About 1 minute into this experience...the * * * * hit the fan - litterally. We see the turles eating something yucky and then spitting it out. We see this everywhere. And then we notice that it smell really bad...everywhere. These turles are swimming in poop water so bad it smells like sewage. And frankly, it's just gross! This really killed it for all involved.

We saw No signage about the turtles. At the smaller tanks with smaller turtles, guests are apparenly encouraged to pick the turtles up. There is no sign that says, hey, these turtles can bite, so be careful with your little ones! Also, you must be crazy to let your young child or even yourself touch that horribly contaminated water. Talk about bacteria and infections...eech. This place was nasty. And I don't know what you have to do to have an actual guide, since we never saw anyone.

Don't Go !!! For a nice Grand Cayman experience, charter a boat half day, fill it up, and have them take you snorkeling and to see the sting rays.

Skip the higher priced tour (unless this will be the only way to snorkel with young children). Our kids loved seeing and holding the turtles up close and feeding them. We joked everytime we saw a mansion on the Island that they must own the turtle farm. It was clean and the kids loved it.

THE TURTLE FARM . A new home is now open for the Boatswains Beach Turtle farm. Pop for the full tour, though pricey it can occupy the entire day. At the beginning of the tour is the turtle farm and breeding program. A well -versed guide will lead you thorough the maze of tanks housing various ages of green sea turtles as well as rare turtles from around the world. Stand on the bridge and watch the biologists hand feed the four large nurse sharks. Go down to the observation area and watch the 6 brown sharks feed.

The snorkel lagoon, a 1.3 million gallon water park is home to thousands of brightly coloured fish. Gear is availabe for free from the life guard. A glass wall allows snorkelers to come up close and personal with an array of sharks, eels, groupers, and other fish.

A Nature Trail, complete with butterfly gardens and a chance to see the local silver thatch tree, bananna orchid and other native fauna. A small cave system called the “Blue Hole” is found at the end of this winding West Bay Woodlands.

There is also the Aviary with a selection of birds found through out the Caribbean and is also home to the Cayman Parrot, these colorful and social birds are found no where else in the carribbean. Thre is a shore line nursey, housing an assortment of jouvenile fish and some of the islands famed Blue Iguanas. Boatswains Beach is a must –see for visiting Cayman with kids, and an educational and fun experience for everyone.

The Turtle themed gift shop has a lot of great gifts all reasonably priced. My daughter bought a barrette that was made by local disabled children. Staff at Boatswains Beach, most of them Caymanian, are very hospitable and anxious to share their culture and the warmth of traditional Caymanian hospitality with their guests.

If you are staying on the island, try to go on Friday, saturday, Sunday or Monday when there are few if any cruise ships in port. without all of the boat people it is peacefuland calm, and a relaxing experience.

We went with our three daughters (10, 7, 3) in April 2007 and it was a wonderful experience. We did the snorkeling in the fresh water pool and were able to see the sharks through the glass tank. The breeding tanks was great to see and trying to hold the little turtles was great. It was very clean and great service. There was a tour guide, she was great and made the experience memorable for our family. Later we went across the way to eat dinner and watched the sunset. Just Beautiful :-)