Captain Marvin – a Cayman legend

By Lindsey Turnbull on 7th June, 2016

Captain Marvin’s – a Cayman legend

Captain Marvin Ebanks, the granddaddy and founder of snorkel trips to the Stingray City sandbar started his boat tour business back in 1951, and his tours have been delighting visitors to the island ever since.

The story of how Stingray City and the sandbar were ‘discovered’ is legendary.  As a boy fishing with his father, Captain Marvin remembered fishermen stopping in the shallow waters of the crystal clear North Sound to clean their catch. At that time stingrays would congregate and eat the fish scraps that were being thrown into the water.

Years later Captain Marvin realised tourists might like to see this amazing phenomenon of gathering stingrays from a boat, and so Captain Marvin’s began.

By now a popular tour for visitors, Captain Marvin then began offering snorkel trips for visitors, so they could enjoy the warm, beautiful waters and get closer to nature, as well as view the majestic stingrays from the boat. The crew would provide a delicious lunch for their guests using freshly caught seafood and visitors thought they were in paradise.

Visitors Lesley and Mick Wingfield get up close and personal with a stingray on Captain Marvin’s tour. Photo by Roy Forbes

Today the area is world-famous and several generations of stingrays later, they are still living in the wild and congregate to enjoy their snacks. Visitors nowadays enjoy getting up close and personal with the stingrays, as they are able to snorkel and scuba alongside them.

Captain Marvin’s is now operated by a second generation of ownership and the legacy continues: providing the experience of a lifetime for their guests, with consistently excellent service, and first-class boats, fishing gear and snorkeling equipment and of course their amazing crew.

For more information visit Captain Marvin’s or call 1-345-945-6975 (Weekdays 8am – 5pm | Weekends 8am – 4pm)