Everybody Loves Rays excursion questions

[Cbear1973]

Hi. My hubby and 5 year old are booked to do the Rays encounter.

 

Anybody been on this excursion? Are you actually standing on the ocean floor or is there a platform? Can she use her swimmies-type life vest?

What all is available at the beach club as far as amenities?

 

Thanks.

[ToothDoc78]

Wondering about this myself as we are planning on booking this with our 5 and 6 year olds! Did you get any other info?

[dkc1973]

We did this excursion two years ago.

 

You will be standing in water about knee deep and standing on a rocky bottom. As I recall it was a little slick and some of the rocks were a bit large (think large baked potato). The rays will come up and bump and rub your legs for food, it's very much like a cat will head-butt your leg and then run it's body along your leg. Make sure you have a good footing, maybe even stand your little one between your legs to give her some added support. Everyone in our group was bobbling around for their footing at one time or another, but it was nothing that seemed to scare the smaller kids that were there.

 

They will provide an inflatable vest, but I would bet they would allow your daughter to wear her own if it fits her well. When you go to the snorkeling area it's pretty casual, they will go in and feed them get the moving, but in general they stay lower in the water so you aren't face-to-face with them or anything. If someone is unable to use a mask or snorkel, they won't enjoy that part too much.

 

The beach club is not very fancy. They will provide you with a locker, so you can feel comfortable leaving your things. There are tables with umbrellas and you get a coupon for a free cola. They do serve some food but we didn't try any. They had an iguana you could hold and they had hermit crab races for the kids. There are a few souvenirs and they will make you a dvd of your experience, which was $35 I think. I highly recommend the dvd, because they had one guy out there with us and his only job was to take pictures. He took tons and was very good to stop the other guide if he needed to redo a shot (like if you were holding the ray and it got loose or something). They are VERY informative about the rays and they teach you in a way that is easy to understand and very interesting.

 

I HIGHLY recommend this excursion!!