Stingrays

[MissKIA]

My husband is afraid to do a stingray tour because he thinks he will be stung and killed :rolleyes:. Obviously he thinks they are dangerous because of Steve Irwin being killed by one and I told him it was a freak accident, but he is skeptical. Do any of you know of any tourist who has ever been killed by a stingray on a tour? Can you help me ease his mind?

[itsalljimmysfault]

Never heard of any injuries. Did this last year for the first time and it was awesome! The stingrays are very gentle, other than having a large appetite for the squid I was hand feeding them! I would do it again in a heartbeat! Never felt scared or in danger from them!

[KenMo]

The stingrays around GC are basically tame.

 

They are like Pavlovian dogs. The sounds of the boat engines mean food.

 

I believe the only way you'll get stung is if you run your hand up the tail, from the tip towards the head.

 

I've never heard of anyone getting stung on the excursions.

[celticd1]

We did the stingray City excursion a few years ago. They are super gentle and I have never heard of anyone being killed or even injured while snorkeling there.

 

Let him know that he can choose to stay on the boat while everyone else feeds and plays with the rays. After watching for a few minutes he might just feel safe enough to join you. :)

[crusinpsychRN]

I have no desire to swim with rays. Seems way too yucky! My son did it and said he got suck marks all over. He didn't like it.

[smurfm69]

We did this in Grand Cayman and really enjoyed the experience!

[momof4boys]

Our group loved it. One of our favorite things ever along with Dunn's River.

 

Luckily no suck marks, but they went for the food, not our hands or arms. :D

[Alliezona09]

This is one excursion that I think is a must~! They are amazing creatures, so beautiful, gentle and soft~!!!

 

 

[MyDogRudy]

The stingray attack of Steve Irwin was extremely rare. His death was due to the puncture by the barb of the stingray, not due to a deadly toxin coming from the ray. Here is an excerpt of an article on nationalgeographic.com about the specifics:

 

The circumstances of Irwin's demise are very rare. Experts believe his death is only the third ever caused by a stingray in Australian waters.

 

Stingrays are normally placid. But the barb of a stingray's tail is like a serrated knife and could easily impale a person, Mark Meekan, a research scientist with the Australian Institute of Marine Science, told the Sydney Morning Herald newspaper.

 

"People usually only get stung by stingrays [when the animals are] defending themselves," Meekan said.

 

"The ray flips its tail over and will try to stab whatever is attacking it. They are very fast, and most people don't see the stingray attack."

 

The barbs do carry some toxins but, Meekan says, a person who is stung is more likely to suffer from perforation of arteries or blood vessels.

 

The doctor who treated Irwin described his death as "highly unusual."

 

I have a healthy fear of sharks and loved watching Steve Irwin, but did swim with the stingrays in Grand Cayman without any worries. As long as you are gentle everything should be fine. I got a backrub and kiss by the stingrays and they were very docile. The Irwin incident was just a freak occurrence.

[evandbob]

I have no desire to swim with rays. Seems way too yucky! My son did it and said he got suck marks all over. He didn't like it.

 

 

The rays hunt by scent, so if someone handles squid, then rubs their arms or chest, the rays will "climb" that person to suck at where the squid scent is......no teeth, they have cartilinginous jays.

[5waldos]

Does your husband drive a car? Far far far more likely to die doing that then swimming with the rays. :rolleyes: Might remind him of that.

 

Nevertheless- fears are fears. So you go and your husband can enjoy sitting on the boat and watching them- even that is amazing.

[MissKIA]

Does your husband drive a car? Far far far more likely to die doing that then swimming with the rays. :rolleyes: Might remind him of that.

 

 

As a matter of fact, is he is a fuel truck driver, so he drives a huge truck for a living with 37,000 litres of extremley flamable liquid in his trailer on a daily basis.

 

I understand his fear. I am afraid to fly, but I face it every time we travel! I'm just trying to show him that stingrays are not as scary as he things to ease his mind. All he knows about them is that they killed the Crocodile Hunter so he thinks they are dangerous. I did tell him that he can stay on the boat if he wants, which he just might do. He's not much of a water person, but I did get him to snorkel once.

 

Thanks for your replies!

[Cold Beach]

They do this tour every day over and over......

[RedbirdFL]

I accidentally stepped on a stingray once in the Gulf of Mexico and got stung. It hurt a LOT! I would be afraid to do this tour.

[jobster71]

The sting ray that killed Irwin is also a different kind of stingray. Kind of comparing a German Shepperd to a Pomaranian.

 

 

 

---

I am here: http://maps.google.com/maps?ll=27.651884,-97.385497

[Chris1013]

As others have said, the stingrays are really tame - like underwater puppy dogs. I haven't heard of anyone getting stung on a tour. I've done the stingray tour 3 times and every time has been a blast and well worth it. No injuries. Haven't been sucked on.

 

Also, if it helps, below is an excerpt from the Moby Dick Tours website:

 

How your Stingray City experience is NOT AT ALL like the tragic event that took Steve Irwin's life...

-Our southern stingrays are exposed to as many as a thousand people daily, having been hand fed and held for 35 years. The bull sting ray that Steve encountered was wild and not exposed to humans.

- Our southern stingrays do not feel threatened despite the fact that they are not always handled as instructed, frequently stepped on, and swim amongst the occasional hysterical flailing individual. The bull sting ray Steve encountered was acting in a natural defensive mode as it did feel threatened, using its barb protectively. Our company has provided an amazing experience for 70k of people over the last 7 years with absolutely NO serious injuries.

Hope this helps to alleviate any fears

[CanadaJulie]

When we did the stingray tour with Stingray Sailings last december, they explained that Steve Irwin's heart was pierced but the barb. Basically, a butter knife is as dangerous in that context - if ANYTHING pierces your heart, you better be inside a hospital. Steve Irwin was just in the wrong place at the wrong time and possibly acting a little aggressive when he should not have...

 

The stingray excursion is EXACTLY why I just booked another cruise. I insisted there be a stop in GCM so we could do it again, this time with the kids !

[tweety33]

My DH also is worried about swimming with the stingrays so I sent an inquiry off to the tour operator in Belize asking, and this is there response.......

"Thank you for getting in touch with us. The nurse sharks have never bitten anyone (they couldn't even if they wanted to). Over the years, we've had two stringray wounds. In both cases, the victims were grown men who intentionally stepped on the rays to see if they could trigger the reflexive tail whip. The wounds were painful, but fortunately not serious."

 

[navybaby1113]

I accidentally stepped on a stingray once in the Gulf of Mexico and got stung. It hurt a LOT! I would be afraid to do this tour.

 

This is why you should do the stingray shuffle.

[crash3x]

If you look at the pics another cruiser here posted, you will see that the stingrays do not have the "barb" on the end of its tail unlike the one that killed Steve Irwin.

 

I am about to do this excursion in a couple of weeks and I am so looking forward to it.

[nofishforme]

if you have any doubt about it do the stingray tour in grand cayman they are so tame and freindly but they are still wild but so easy going.They feel like velvet i got a back massage from one it was realy neat and held like 15 differnt stingrays we had a small group but we had all ages 5 to 80 yrs every one got in the water held and fed the rays i want to do it again

[cruiserguy11]

As a matter of fact, is he is a fuel truck driver, so he drives a huge truck for a living with 37,000 litres of extremley flamable liquid in his trailer on a daily basis.

 

Remember, the greatest fear a Canadian has is coming into the U.S. :eek: Hey, a Canadian once told me that....lol.

 

The stingrays you will encounter are a lot tamer than Americans. :D so unless you actually try to steal our ***** then you're OK. Eh.

[amysb]

Many years ago, while vacationing on South Padre Island, I managed to step on or kick a small stingray when I was walking back to shore. My immediate thought was that a crab had grabbed me or something, but once I got on shore the pain started......absolutely agonizing, and I say this as a mom who gave birth to twins breach with no anesthesia :eek:. Anyway, a trip to the emergency room resulted, I was treated and recovered after two rounds of antibiotics (ocean wounds are tough to treat from what I hear).

 

Fast forward many years to my first attempt at "swimming with the Stingrays" on Grand Cayman. I was petrified, and got back on the boat after just a few minutes. Maybe it was high tide or something, but we never actually stood on the sandbar and had to swim the entire time. Watching everyone else was still a lot of fun.

 

Next trip to the Cayman Islands.....took another excursion (Captain Marvins) to the sandbar (maybe this time it was low tide?) and got brave enough to exit the boat and stand on the sandbar. I held and kissed a stingray! They are amazing creatures - so soft to touch and so placid. Nothing like the much larger (and wilder) rays in Australia.

 

I would do this again in a heartbeat, and will always be happy that I made a second attempt and overcame my fear. Please tell your DH I highly recommend this!!!

[Silverman]

When we did this tour. I was pushing people out of the way to get into the water. This wasnt a bad thing. When we first got there you couldnt see anything. But when the boat turned off the engine all you could see were black dots swimming all around. People freaked so I pushed them out of the way to get in with them. I was the first one off the boat! They had told us before hand to be careful about feeding them. Guys never ever put that squid in your swim suit pockets. You may end up with a hicki on your man hood!!!!! Not me saying this but our guides!!!!! Needless to say we didnt feed them. My girlfriend at the time stayed on the ship for a little bit till I coaxed her in the water. She was scared!!!!! But after a while she was loving it! Very docile creatures. As they swim by you or between your legs they rub you with their wings. Very, very cool!!! Nothing to be scared off. If your careful they will be with you. I believe they sense it too. I was aslo the first to hold one. I asked if we could and one of the guides dove down and picked one up. Told me to come over and I was walking on the stingrays. Never got stung one time. But I was extremely careful. I didnt want to hurt them. Anyway holding one was the highlight of the tour!!! After all how many times do you get to hold one of gods creatures in the wild like that?!!! Something I will never forget!!!! Tell your husband to suck it up and just do it! He wont regret it!! I highly recommend this tour to everybody!!! Everyone should experience this at least one time!!!! But if he is as scared of these as I am of Tarantulas/spiders he will never do it and I dont blame him. LOL!!!

[WestTxCruiser]

Show him this picture, my daughter was 5, son was 11....totally amazing experience for them. They are 10 and 16 now and still talk about it.