Shark Ray Alley Questions

[mrsjetpup]

Hi! My family is considering doing a Shark Ray Alley excusrion with Eco Tours in August and I have a couple of questions. Any help will be greatly appreciated.

 

How deep is the water at Shark Ray Alley? My husband doesn't swim but really wants to go there, we were at Sting Ray Island in Grand Cayman and he did fine, but the water was only about 4 feet deep. I've seen conflicting reports from 3-8 feet at Shark Ray Alley.

 

The reef that they take you to to snorkle, how deep is it? My husband really wants to try to snorkle and since he will have a life vest on he thinks he will be ok, I just worry about him panicing in the water and think if it is more shallow he may be OK. Is this company good about having guides close by?

 

Thanks for your help with this.

[OZjones12]

I went with a diffrent company but with the waves it is hard to move around if you cant swim that well.. Also with the coral being high in some places you have to be able to swim well or you will be swept into the coral by the waves and that is not what you want to do...

[driftwood]

. . . the water is not five feet deep there, and the rays, at least, bounce around you like eager puppies! Also in that area was a perfectly gorgeous Scrawled Cowfish (Acanthostrachion quadricornis), which was certainly worth a few pictures.

 

Snorkeling near the reef is a bit more strenuous, however, and the guides are in very good condition. It is very easy to float on the salty water of Belize, and fins can move even non-swimmers along very neatly, so we did not inflate the life vests that we had, as doing so tends to keep you bobbing on the surface and essentially unable to see much of the fish and other undersea life. DW, who is not a confident swimmer, realized quickly that the tour guide was setting a pace that she could not follow, so she climbed back into the boat and worked on her tan. The reef is very beautiful, but perhaps they want to show you a little too much of it in the limited time you have. In an hour and a half of snorkeling, I took about 120 photographs--so I infer that there is a lot to see--and I was almost able to keep up with the the guide and two young women. DW was impressed that I returned undrowned, anyway. :D But I did have the advantage of my own swim fins, which were half again as long as those of the others. Lots of catchup! I did very lightly brush the living reef at one point (trying a shortcut to catch up), and the natural defenses of the coral left my right elbow and knee dramatically bloodied. Three months later almost all signs of the encounter are gone . . . . :rolleyes: Which may be what Grace&Geoff are suggesting!

 

All companies are good about having guides nearby--you are not even permitted to go to the reef without a licensed guide, and I feel quite confident that if you advise your guide of your husband's concerns, you will be well taken care of. This is, after all, what they do for a living! "Drowned tourists don't tip well!"

[mrsjetpup]

Thank you both of you. I have shared your responses with my husband, and also the response that I got from Eco Tours. We are trying to decide between this tour and cave tubing. So, I guess now we'll give the two choices to our 14 yo twins and see what they have to say.

 

Thanks again for your help!