Sting Ray City and beach barbeque

[Sunshine10]

I haven't done much research.. but it seems that Sting Ray City of today is somewhat shallow on a sandbar. Is this true? I actually got to enjoy "Sting Ray City" on a dive ship in the early 80's when it was about 20-30 ft down (if memory serves). We even had a model fly in to film the site for National Geographic from our ship. And yes... she did get makeup prior to diving/filming. :rolleyes:

 

We are cruising to Cayman over the holidays and was thinking about booking an excursion to Sting Ray City, but from the few pictures I've seen, it looks like a tourist free-for-all and not at all what I remember. :eek: So I'm somewhat hesitant to do this.

 

Now many many years ago, dh went to Caymans a couple of times for - okay don't laugh - "weekend toga parties" and keeps talking about some beach barbeque. Is there a resort or bar on 7 mile beach that fits his memory that we should consider?

 

We are already booked on the 2-man bubble sub, and are no longer "bask in sun" types, rather we enjoy relaxing, sipping cocktails in the shade. Any input on what to see the rest of the day would be appreciated.

[CaribbeanBound]

Yes, sandbar. Maybe 3 feet deep (not counting wave hights on a bad day). It is a free-for-all so it is best to book a private excursion through Native Way or Capt. Marvins. We have use Native Way twice. Each time less than 12 people on the boad vs 100 on the cruiseship tour.

 

Highly recommend Sting Ray City.

Just got back. Here the the full review: http://www.lavasurfer.com/info/zenith14.html

[drew sailbum]

There are two seperate sites used for stingray interactions adn both are frequently called Stingray City. More properly one is the Stingray Sandbar and the other is Stingray City.

 

Stingray City is about 12-15ft deep, depending upon tide and wind and is located near the "main channel" out from the North Sound. This is sometimes called the Original Stingray City as this is where the stingray interactions all began.

 

Stingray Sandbar is about 2-4ft deep, and is a sandbar which slopes to deeper water around the edges. Depth depends upon position on the sandbar as well as wind, waves, and tides. This is sometimes called Stingray City or even Stingray City Sandbar.

 

The large majority of the snorkelling trips to see the stingrays go to the sandbar location. The majority of the scuba diving trips go to the original site. There are always exceptions to these rules of thumb.

 

 

As to beach barbecues. There is a regular Sunday afternoon beach barbecue catered at the Driftwood Sports Bar, in the district of Northside, from 1-7pm. This is a significant social gathereing event for residents of this part of the island, but is rarely attended by cruise tourists. A few participants do arrive by jet ski, but little activity ever focuses on the water, adn the beach edge is down some steps from where the barbecue happens.

[Sunshine10]

Thanks CaribbeanBound and drew sailbum. Okay, well that answers my question on Stingray City. Since dh doesn't dive and the sandbar experience isn't our bag, we'll pass on that the stingrays and leave that to others to enjoy. I actually remember Tarpon Alley, Snaggletooth, StingRay City, and the morray eel like it was yesterday, so missing this excursion will be fine.

 

I have no idea about the barbeque since he doesn't remember much about those details nearly as much as he remembers the parties :p Guess we'll just play it by ear and see what beach bar looks most appealing.

 

Thanks again.