Afraid to swim with Stingrays??????

[BellaBaci4]

Hello All,

 

Looking to plan an excursion, and I have to admit I am a bit apprehensive to swim with the stingrays, Did anyone else feel this way?

Chicken Bella

[JSWalk]

Hello All,

 

Looking to plan an excursion, and I have to admit I am a bit apprehensive to swim with the stingrays, Did anyone else feel this way?

Chicken Bella

 

I was scared to death.:eek: But I am so glad I did. It was one of the neatest things I have ever done.:) I did hold onto my DH alot though.:o:p

[mickiemac]

I was also a little worried about this excursion, but booked it and it was by far our favorite. I would do it again in a minute!!

[dopey1200]

I went in scared as well....but came out really glad that I did it!

[snowseeker]

My friend was very apprehensive about getting in the water, but it turned out to be the best experience ever!! The stingrays are used to people and swim right up to you. It is truly an amazing experience! All of us are returning with our children to experience it again in November. We made sure Grand Cayman was one of the ports for our cruise just to make the trek a second time!

You will love it!!!

[MrSegway]

It is neat. There was a person in our group who was very scared a first. When your boat first pulls up the rays know there is fresh food comiing. So they tend to gather around any new tour boat that backs up to the sand bar. So at first it is overwhelming. Just hang back on the boat until the initial feed frenzy is over. You can also get on someones back. The thing you really have to get used to is the rays swimming around your feet. The remind me of cats coming by and simply want to brush up against you. The rays are really tame and very social. They are already used to humans, you just have to get used to them.

[jackdiamond]

I assume that these Rays have the barbed tails.

[Johnsmatrix]

From what I understand they are all natural. I booked the stingray excursion and was apprehensive at first but after reading the reviews I take comfort in knowing that thousands do this yearly. Ok, im still a little apprehensive.

 

Here are some links. No injuries at stingray city.

http://www.cdnn.info/news/travel/t061008.html

http://www.cdnn.info/news/safety/s070321.html

[lgerrish]

Hello All,

 

Looking to plan an excursion, and I have to admit I am a bit apprehensive to swim with the stingrays, Did anyone else feel this way?

Chicken Bella

 

Do it! I was so nervous about getting in around the stingrays, but held one, kissed one and loved it. It's such a wonderful experience that you don't want to pass up. The stingrays were very tame and the tour guides helpful.

 

When the bait water was dumped in and around my friend (who would not touch one) a stingray slithered up her back and then came around to her front. :eek: It was actually quite funny, but she was very nervous about being in the water with them (and the tour guide knew it - that's why he dumped the water near her). Others took turns in feeding them. I would do it again in a heartbeat!

 

Have fun!

[2PinaColadas]

LOVED IT!!! A must do in Grand Cayman. There is nothing to fear, just listen to your tour guides. You'll regret it if you don't.

[maggiepie11]

seriously--i don't even go on the snorkeling excursions because the feeling of unwanted critters rubbing up against my legs really freaks me out. when i see something swimming towards me i could ingest the entire caribbean sea!

 

are you standing on the sandbar? or do you have to have snorkel gear on and swim with them? i'm not convinced this is for me yet. sell harder!!! :o

 

i've been to 7 mile beach several times so i'm looking for something to do in cayman, but it's hard to avoid the stingrays--every tour ends up at the stingray sandbar it seems!

[cruiseco]

This will really let you know what goes on there

 

http://www.yourcruisevideos.com/forums/showthread.php?t=2249

[GinDon]

There are several reputable Stingray City tour companies in GC. Just do a search on these threads, and you will see the same names appear over and over. Pick one of those, and you are fine.

 

You will be on a sandbar, the water was just a little above my waist, and I'm only 5 feet tall. The rays do have their barbs, because they are free roaming (I was going to say "wild", but didn't want to freak you out.......haha). They swim slowly, more like gliding through the water. They don't zip around. The guides say to walk with a shuffle, and there is no way you will step on anybody's barbed tail. Some of them are really big, but seriously, they are totally non-threatening. I PROMISE you will love the whole experience. Take a waterproof camera for some great photos. Oh, and be sure to kiss one, it's supposed to be good luck.

[capncarp]

Cruiseco's video link is a great illustration of an encounter with the 'rays. And I couldn't help but think "Awwww.... a baby stingray!" when I saw one of the young ladies holding and petting it. :D Take your time, take it easy, and relax and enjoy the 'rays. You will indeed never have an experience like it. The 'rays are human-desensitized--they don't see people as foreign creatures, and they are expecting these somewhat familiar two-legged/two-armed creatures to provide lunch, as many others have done before. Kind of like pigeons or ducks in a public park. Treat them gently and with sufficient carefulness and you will have a grand time.

See also the thread titled "Stingrays for the timid" on this page.

Magpie11--I see you have furry children (the puppies in the picture); the rays are probably no more dangerous than your dogs. You would take care not to step on their paws or tails, so if you take care not to step on the rays (shuffle, don't step) they will simply fly and glide around, coming up for a dog biscuit, errr, I mean a squid. The 'rays are kind of like puppies who KNOW that the dog biscuits are nearby.

[scb1959]

I would recommend that you take a private excursion if you are apprehensive about going in the water with the stingrays. We only had 8 people on our tour and we had three guides right there in the water with us the whole time. The guides stayed right with everyone until each of us was fully comfortable among the stingrays. Our visit with the stingrays was a highlight of our cruise and we are taking our grown children and their spouses there next year because it was so much fun!

 

(I was one of the last ones off the boat because of my own apprehension, but it's too much fun to miss out on the opportunity!)

Susan

[PlanoDebbie]

Hello All,

 

Looking to plan an excursion, and I have to admit I am a bit apprehensive to swim with the stingrays, Did anyone else feel this way?

Chicken Bella

 

Our last cruise to GC was about 2 weeks after Steve Irwin was killed by a Stingray. I decided that we were definitely NOT going to swim with those creatures.

 

Well, nearly 3 years later, we booked a tour to swim with the stingrays. Just got home on Sunday.

 

It was fabulous! You will need to go in the water barefoot. Our tour guides did an excellent job of showing us the parts of the stingray along with the barb. Keep in mind that the ones Steve Irwin was trying to wrestle with were much larger, and were not accustomed to being around humans. The ones at Stingray City are quite used to swimming around people and being fed. You will not be catching your own stingrays to hold for pictures. They will catch one and hold it for you to pose for pictures.

 

It gets a little bit crazier when they pull out the squid to feed them. Suddenly the stingrays will be zipping all around you. That was wild! We all loved the experience and would do it again in a heartbeat.

[PinkJellyFish06]

You HAVE to try it out! I promise, you won't be disappointed. My mom was a little scared of them at first. But after listening to our guides she was one of the first people to hold them!

[Imasealuvr]

The swim with the stingrays was the BEST excursion we have ever done. Can't wait to do it again next month!

[Garn]

My 8 year old daughter did this in March (as well as my 13 year old son, my wife, in-laws and father), and everyone thought it was amazing. It's a little freaky the first time they rub against you, but it's still a once-in-a-lifetime experience.

[capncarp]

Ok, BelaBaci4 and Maggiepie11, now that we've bared our collective souls and (some of us) admitted our initial apprehension about these critters, do you think we've made a hard enough sell? :)

I'm personally impressed that one poster (snowseeker) and company are determined to bring their small children along next time--I guess they feel it's a safe and enriching experience. This is indeed like a petting zoo in the ocean.

You can see by the posts on this and similar threads that this experience has left a great and lasting positive impression on almost all of those who have "been there, done that, and gonna come back for more".;) If you mention Stingray City in a roomful of "been theres" you will hear many of the following phrases:

"Me first!" "In a heartbeat!" "Where's the squid?" "Are we there yet?":D

Go for it, and have a happy memorable time. You will not regret it and you may join the rank of "been theres" longing to go back once more.

[kikigg]

OK Matrix, were those links supposed to make people feel better? Honestly, I was NOT apprehensive, just looking for info. but those links are making me re-think it. Has no one checked those out and commented????

[bookbabe]

OK Matrix, were those links supposed to make people feel better? Honestly, I was NOT apprehensive, just looking for info. but those links are making me re-think it. Has no one checked those out and commented????

 

As soon as I saw what the bias of the articles was, I just closed and moved on. :rolleyes: Just ignore them. It's a conservation activist site. They don't approve of marine life "encounters" like stingray or dolphin encounters, etc. It's similar to getting advice on gun control from the NRA. They're not what you'd call an unbiased source of information... :D

 

Don't worry. I've been to Stingray City dozens of times, and it's very safe and very fun. Just use normal common sense that you'd use around any animals and you'll be fine.

[marshhawk]

This is the second thread regarding the stingrays which stated you must go in the water in your bare feet. I want to do this tour, but I also never go in the ocean anymore without wearing my water shoes. Do the tour guides give a reason why you have to be bare foot? Would love to know.

[Allis154]

From what I have read, it is because if you step on them with shoes on you may injure them....

 

I would much rather wear my shoes too....

[back to the islands]

It looks like the rays' tails touch you at times. I thought this was where the barb was.

Cruiseco, what kind of underwater camera did you use????? Loved the video!