any one afraid of stingrays?

[donaldsc]

No need to yell at the OP. She asked a simple question because she was concerned. I don't blame her. It's something I think about even though I love the stingrays.

 

However, it is obvious that the OP read a poorly written headline (poor journalism) and did not bother to read paragraph 2 of the story and jumped to a totally incorrect conclusion. Or, more likely, she read the CNN crawl on the bottom of her TV screen and never went any further because it would have been too much trouble.

 

Journalism is in a really sorry state today.

 

DON

[nolaAlive]

Journalism is in a really sorry state today.

 

 

In the United States, sadly it is true - manipulated by advertising, politicians, corporations and other special interests. It goes for all news media.

 

That is hardly the OP's fault.

[kelcruzn]

We were out on Moby Dick tours last week with Mark and it was fantastic! http://www.mobydicktours.com/

 

Mark is so good with the rays and I fed several and kissed one as well. They are amazingly gentle creatures. I would love to go there again. We snorkeled first and then went to the sandbar in hopes some of the crowd was gone. We had a smaller boat/group compared to most others. One big ray was trying to swim between my legs so I had to straddle it!

 

The entire tour took about 3-4 hours. I tell everyone it was one of the neatest things I've done in my life.

[fikkstix5]

I second Native Ways! We were w/ them last week....WONDERFUL!

[countrykids]

We were out on Moby Dick tours last week with Mark and it was fantastic! http://www.mobydicktours.com/

 

 

I am so glad to hear that Moby Dick is fantastic!!! We are booked with moby Dick for next Tuesday the 15th :)

[capncarp]

What you were "bitten" with most likely was the hard outer "gums" of the sting ray, their sharp teeth are actually further into their mouths, not near the opening. Their mouths have mega suction power so when they move in to eat something --in your case a toe, in my case a thumb that was not tucked in as I attempted to give the sweetheart a hunk o' squid--between the hard gums and the suction it feels like you've been bitten, not hard and not enough to break skin, but still forceful, but not super painful. More like a hard bump?? And you're right, more of a startling thing than actually painful.

 

Just keep your toes a smidge dug into the sand when standing, shuffle your feet along the ocean floor when you walk rather than picking your feet way up and putting them down hard, and keep your fingers tucked in if they are swimming around or when you are feeding them. If they do happen to get a hold of a toe/thumb/worse, they'll quickly realize it's not the yummy squid or fish they were after and will immediately release the suction.

 

What Jane said--shuffle your feet. And when you "hold" one of them on your arms, support their wings and let them keep their gills in the water. Don't let your arm get a super-hickey like the young girl on our tour (she got her forearm under the ray's centerline when holding it). No blood but a painful contusion. :eek: Hold your squid on a flat hand and allow Mr. Ray to swoop over it and vacuum it up, like feeding a horse a sugar cube.

Make eye-contact with one and watch it looking back at you.

Yes, the rays are wildlife, albeit human-accustomed.

But they ARE so cool...!:cool:

[Jungle Jane]

What Jane said--shuffle your feet. And when you "hold" one of them on your arms, support their wings and let them keep their gills in the water. Don't let your arm get a super-hickey like the young girl on our tour (she got her forearm under the ray's centerline when holding it). No blood but a painful contusion. :eek: Hold your squid on a flat hand and allow Mr. Ray to swoop over it and vacuum it up, like feeding a horse a sugar cube.

Make eye-contact with one and watch it looking back at you.

Yes, the rays are wildlife, albeit human-accustomed.

But they ARE so cool...!:cool:

 

Our guide told us not to use flat hand, to make a fist with thumb tucked in and have quid sticking out of fist hole, otherwise rays will mistake a finger or thumb for squid and that would hurt. I bet if you did it the flat out way and kept all your fingers together it would be ok tho'. But didn't the quid float off your hand that way?

[bigred08046]

We did Native Way and the crew was outstanding! They helped my disabled wife into chest high water and then they caught the rays and let us pet feed and evern KISS the rays. Got pictures to prove it!

So NO we are not afraid of Caymans Rays! Get out there and just do it! Chance of a LIFETIME!

[muss2k1]

I read on the boards that the stingrays are DE-stingered at these attractions?

Is that true?

[rsldonk]

All I can say about Steve Irwin's death is that he validated his whole show when that happened. "Kreikey, don't handle animals like I do, it may just piss them off and they will sometimes fight back!"

 

Anything as big as an Eagle Ray jumping into a boat will do damage, but in light of Irwin's "tragic" (or in my view Darwin Award worthy) death, anything with a ray will be sensationalized.

[bookbabe]

I read on the boards that the stingrays are DE-stingered at these attractions?

Is that true?

 

At which attractions? Stingray City? The stingrays at Stingray City are wild, since the "attraction" is a sandbar out in the ocean, okay, well, a reef-protected bay, but it still has ocean access. There's no way to "de-stinger" the stingrays since they come and go as they please.

[Al's_gal]

I'm glad this thread was resurrected b/c we have a nativeway tour booked next month, and I've been trying to decide whether I actually get off the boat when we get to stingray city. I am the most afraid of stepping on one accidentally and then getting stung. But if I plant my feet firmly in the sand, I should be alright, right?? And I have NO plans of feeding, hugging or kissing one! Just getting into the water will be enough for me!

[MamaParrotHead]

I am. I was snorkeling off Rum Point Beach and a few lone stingrays were swimming around and it kinda freaked me out. I think mainly bc I was kind of on my own with them and have never been around them, and they are NOT small by any means. I couldn't swim away bc I was too scared to take my eyes off of them, LOL. They reminded me a lot of stray cats...kind of following you. One of my friends who was standing on the pier loves to tell the story of my swimming in circles and yelling through my snorkel, ROFLMBO. ;)

 

I don't know how I'd feel if I went on an organized tour...better bc there are guides there or worse bc there would be so MANY of them EVERYWHERE.

[Crusin' Momma]

I was more afraid of getting knocked down by then than stung! LOL:D

[capncarp]

I was more afraid of getting knocked down by then than stung! LOL:D

 

The critters DO get affectionate, don't they?;)

[cheeseheads1]

What Jane said--shuffle your feet. And when you "hold" one of them on your arms, support their wings and let them keep their gills in the water. Don't let your arm get a super-hickey like the young girl on our tour (she got her forearm under the ray's centerline when holding it). No blood but a painful contusion. :eek: Hold your squid on a flat hand and allow Mr. Ray to swoop over it and vacuum it up, like feeding a horse a sugar cube.

Make eye-contact with one and watch it looking back at you.

Yes, the rays are wildlife, albeit human-accustomed.

But they ARE so cool...!:cool:

 

DO NOT wave the squid around and then pull your hand back towards your body. You may not appreciate what happens next.....:rolleyes: Arms are not the only location for stingray hickeys! Give them the squid as described above. As a huge ray came in I sort of "freaked" momentarily. Learned my lesson. Seriously they are so tame and gentle. I would do it again in a heartbeat:D

[Jenbo57]

We went with Moby Dick Tours and had an incredible time! One of the rays (Spotty) fell in love with my husband...I have many, many, pictures of the two of them! :D We would do this again in a heartbeat!

 

[christineann]

These are beautiful creatures, and most are quite large - it would be difficult to step on one. The photo with the gray stingray was taken Monday.

 

The large black ray in one of the photos was named Darth Vader and was quite old. The guides told me this week that she disappeared after a hurricane a few years ago.

[lovetheislands]

Another piece of advice...on a girls land trip to the Caymans, we took a catamaran trip out with Red Sail to the "other" stingray city - it is a deeper location rather than the sandbar and you actually swim/snorkel around the rays.

 

They warned us about "kisses" from the stingrays (in a joking manner). I made the mistake of wearing a new swimsuit with metallic threading - very glittery. One of our friends is terrified of the ocean and we were trying to coax her out of the boat and in with the rays. I was treading water near the boat and had a piece of squid in the water which I then reached up to hand to her to try and feed the ray. The (rather large) ray mistakenly went for my bikini top thinking that it was the squid that I had just removed from the water.

 

It was my fault - as an experienced snorkeler I should have known better - but I would recommend to leave your bright and shiny bikini on the ship :) and go with something a little more subdued. It really wasn't painful - but having a stingray give you a "hiccy" in your bikini top area is somewhat startling to say the least! At least I had a good story to tell and witnesses to prove it.