Sting Ray City a must do!!

[gloriaj]

If you are thinking of not doing the Sting Ray City excursion...think again!

We don't like going along with the crowd at most ports, but this should be the exception. Just do it!

Our first time to Grand Cayman was a day stop on the Enchantment in '99, and unfortunately the ship had a engine down and we limped our way across the Caribbean. We were only allowed a 2 hour stop in Grand Cayman, and we were not allowed to do any excursions. So we just walked around the port area and looked at all the shops, found a nice cool English Pub called the Landmark, its up a set of stairs, had Tennents beer. We loved it there, Grand Cayman is so clean, no begging or aggresive steet vendors. We vowed to go back!

And we did, we went back twice in 2000, 2001, staying a week each time. We rented a car each time and explored the island, which is not hard to do since it is 1 1/2 drive from one end to the other, all driving is on the left, but the roads then were impeccable. The island is nothing to look at, other than the beautiful multimillion dollar homes, with a cow tethered in the empty lot next door! It is very flat and dry, some good restaurants(for a price) and beautiful sunsets, but its the water that holds all the gems of this island. After the first snorkel trip to Sting Ray City, Coral Gardens and Reef, we bought our own snorkeling equipment. I would highly recommend this excursion, yes it may be a crazy busy day in port, but you will never forget it. You could shop, but it is very very expensive there. The second and third time we went back for a week we went again to Sting Ray City each time. We have not been back to the island since Ivan hit, but we had a trip planned there for our 30th anniversary and sadly it was cancelled due to damage, more hotels should be opening soon. But I assure you I would go back again to Sting Ray City, each and every time I visit there...its a hoot!

The string rays are somewhat aggressive, like eagar puppies, but they do not sting! They have barbs on their tails and if you grab it they will of course give you a bad time, but otherwise they are safe, they don't have teeth, they suck up the food you will be feeding them. I was gummed by one and it did hurt, but it was gone in minutes. Its like feeding a horse, keep your palm flat, with thumb flat holding the squid tidbit.

Please see this wonder, you will giggle and laugh, and enjoy the look on everyones faces. A wonderul memory!