Anyone Done the Stingray Excursion on HMC?

[FishPunkin]

I am wanting feedback from anyone who has done the stingray excursion on Half Moon Cay. My son is dying to do one of these.

 

Thanks

[IheartHAL]

I haven't done the excursion, but I did take a walk on HMC and happened upon the location where it takes place. The stingrays are in an enclosure, and participants were snorkelling there. A fellow (the "guide"?) was handling/displaying the stingrays. It looked like a good way to get up close and personal with the rays.

[FishPunkin]

Thank you!

[snowcat]

We did the Stingray Excursion on HMC since our travel agent had included complimentary tickets for the excursion. We've seen the stingrays at Grand Cayman too....there were many more stingrays there (but more people too!). There were only 5 people at the HMC stingrays when we were there and the guide picked the stingrays up for us to pet them. There were steps into the water and a covered place to set our bags and towels while we were in the water. We were also able to feed the stingrays. Have fun on Half Moon Cay....it's one of my favorite spots in the world!

[63galaxie]

I want to encourage everyone to "swim with stingrays" with their kids.

I am a 50 year old mom of four children and I did this with them at Grand Cayman. We are NOT adventerous/athletic folks by nature so it was a real adventure for us.

But, to this day, we ALL talk about it. All of my kids were really scared at first but after a few minutes, we had all calmed down and actually touched the sting rays. I think the unnerving part in the beginning was when the rays were swimming around our legs. So, this sounds like an even better choice (more supervision, less people).

MAKE SURE YOU TAKE SEVERAL UNDERWATER CAMERAS. The disposal kind are only $10 each but the pictures are priceless!

Hope you enjoy it!

[ChrisMW]

We did the Stingray Excursion on HMC since our travel agent had included complimentary tickets for the excursion. We've seen the stingrays at Grand Cayman too....there were many more stingrays there (but more people too!). There were only 5 people at the HMC stingrays when we were there and the guide picked the stingrays up for us to pet them. There were steps into the water and a covered place to set our bags and towels while we were in the water. We were also able to feed the stingrays. Have fun on Half Moon Cay....it's one of my favorite spots in the world!

 

Can you please comment on how deep the water is here and how long does the excursion last? We have never done a stringray excursion and are considering booking for HMC.

Thanks!!

[Katie330]

We participated in this excursion and LOVED it. The water is too deep to touch the bottom, but it is absolutely clear. They don't want you to venture down to the bottom anyhow or else you would kill the coral. If I remember correctly, they had us wear floater vests, snorkels, and masks, and there were steps to get down into the water. When we did it, it was great because there were not a lot of participants (that could have been because it was only about 1-2 weeks after the Steve Irwin incident). Anyhow, they let us feed squid to the stingrays and pet them, so they were swimming all around us and even swimming right up against our bodies a couple of times! It was so much fun, and I would definitely recommend it!

[gumballz]

Are we allowed to bring (and use) our own underwater digital camera on this excursion?

[srobins]

Can someone tell me how much it is for the stingray excursion at Half Moon Cay? I can't get the price list to load on Carnival's page today. We've done the stingray excursion at Cayman, but we were able to stand in the water. Since this excursion is in a deeper lagoon, would the participants need to be fairly good swimmers?

 

Thanks,

Sherryl

[magandanae]

Just looked today $40 pp.

[NCTribeFan]

We did this on our first stop to HMC after having done stingray excursions in Grand Cayman and Nassau.

 

I was very disappointed in the HMC excursion. I'm not a swimmer and when I told them I didn't want to snorkel the whole time, I was told to either get out of the water or go stand by the stairs. I stood by the stairs the entire time, waiting for them to get done with the stupid photo ops (you couldn't enter the enclosure with stopping for a pic with the "guide"). They seemed much more interested in getting the photos than in letting you interact with the stingrays.

 

Then when they finally got around to feeding them, there were so many people crowded around the one guide that it was impossible to get to the bait and interact with the stingrays.

 

After the previous two experiences, it was really a let down.

 

Then, when they dropped us off back at the picnic area, we ate and wandered down to the beach, I was even more disappointed. We only had about an hour to enjoy what is the most beautiful beach I've yet seen.

 

Anyway, I'd do the stingrays somewhere else and enjoy HMC at it's best - relaxing on the beach doing as little as possible! ;)

[srobins]

Thanks for the reply - that's kind of what I was thinking. When someone said that the water was pretty deep I thought perhaps it would be best for someone who didn't mind treading water, or swimming a little. I have seen the stingrays several times at Grand Cayman and will probably not recommend this excursion to others in my party in September.

 

Sherryl

[NCTribeFan]

The next cruise, we did the rays and snorkle trip in Grand Turk. That was also a good one. Small boat out to a tiny island and you wade in to see the stingrays, then back on the boat and off to snorkel.

[gumballz]

We just did the Stingray Encounter through Carnival at HMC last week and our experience was slightly different. There was nobody taking photos except those of us in the water with waterproof cameras. The guides only took photos of us with our cameras if we asked, other than that I never saw any of them with a camera.

 

When you get there you are issued snorkel gear and wetsuits. You spend a little time getting into the wetsuits and then you walk down the stairs into the water. As you reach the bottom step they make sure your mask is on and they make you go out into the water on your stomach. They were a little pushy....but it wasn't that big of a deal. We swam around in the enclosed area for a little while (not too long....maybe 15 minutes or so) then they had us all line up in the shallower water to make a big circle. We were each given a squid and while we took turns feeding the stingrays, they were swimming around us....through our legs and up onto us. A huge one swam up onto my DH's back and just kind of hung out for a little bit (great photo op!) then slid down and swam off.

 

*Note: you are issued an inflatable vest as well....you can put as much or as little air into it as you need, so if you're not a great swimmer you can just fill it up more and it will keep you afloat. If you stay closer to the dock/stairs you will be able to stand, just don't walk......shuffle your feet. :)

 

After you feed them, the guide picks up stingrays so they can spit on you, you can pet them and you can take photos....you can swim around a little while longer and then it's out of the water to get out of the wetsuits and give all the gear back. There are fresh water showers to rinse off The truck that takes you back to the visitor center area holds about 36 people.

 

We also paid $40 per person for the one hour excursion. I'd say that the total time in the water was probably only 20-25 minutes.

 

For the people that didn't want to snorkel (for whatever reason), they were told to stand on the stairs. They were spit on by the stingrays but I never saw them feed any or pet them. They could have stood in the water near the stairs, so I'm not really sure why they had to stay on the stairs. They had wetsuits on... :confused:

 

While the people were nice it was definitly very rushed. If you just want the experience of swimming with stingrays, feeding them and touching them....this might be a good option. If you want more time in the water and more interaction, you should probably head to Grand Cayman (or somewhere else with a better stingray excursion).