Stingrays and Sharks-- Belize or Grand Cayman??

[jreeves6]

I'm visiting both of these ports on my Carnival cruise and would like to know what port would be better for swimming with the stingrays and sharks? It sounds like Belize is more known for the sharks and GC for the stingrays but does one port have both?

[crewsweeper]

Belize has both sharks (nurse, I believe) and rays. The excursions for them are offshore. Lots of threads here. Independent vendors are your best bet.

 

GC has rays and they are in a bay in shallow water. But a large number of cruisers take these excursions and the bay does get crowded. Interesting excursion to take--once.

[DopeyRN1]

This one I can answer. I have been to Grand Cayman twice and did the stingrays there both times. It is hands down the favorite thing I have ever done. (I have parasailed, ziplined, ridden a dolphin) They take you to a sand bar type of area where the water is maybe waist deep for average sized adult. You are SURROUNDED by rays. They swim next to you and glide past you like a cat would. Their underbelly is incredibly smooth! I even had a huge one glide up my back. They let you feed them. The ONLY guideline is do not pick up your feet and put it back down as they are wild and they do have their barbs. You are supposed to just slide your feet when you move. If I lived in GC, I would be there all the time.

 

The excursion in Belize we booked though Carnival and we had a boat that was not over packed. It is a long ride but beautiful and enjoyable. When we got to the area, you go off the boat into pretty deep water. So the stingrays are pretty far below. No where near as many rays and I only got to touch one because one of the guys was holding it. We saw 2 sharks and did get to feel the skin. It was very much less interactive. The snorkeling was good and then we went on to Caye Caulker. That was nice. It was a good excursion, but not good enough that we are repeating it on our upcoming cruise. I did see some boats doing the same thing and they were grossly overloaded, so glad we went with Carnival. The water was very pretty.