Sting Ray tour question

[Mrs.Btobe]

I would love to swim with the Sting Rays and like others have said it was a fluke injury that hapenned to Steve Irwin. My lovely DH is apprehensive about going. I have been to G.C before but didn't do a sting ray tour.

One of my co-workers mentioned she did a tour once where the sting rays didn't have their barb-tail.

So my question: do the sting rays on these tours and tours with capt marvin & capt bryan's have the tails??

Sorry for the dumb question!!!

[drew sailbum]

Yes. Most all of the stingrays you might encounter have their tails and barbs intact.

 

Stingrays are a natural part of the food chain, and a few rays have lost part of their tails in a close encounter with a shark. None of the rays have been intentionally de-barbed by man.

[mswalberg]

Hi,

 

All the tour operators who do the 'Stingray City Sandbar' trips go to one particular spot in the North Sound of Grand Cayman, a large Sandbar where the Stingrays go to feed and interact with us humans. Captain Marvin's has been doing this since 1953, when he was a fisherman and used to dock there to clean the fish. This is how it originated and now these rays come into feed from the squid that us tourists take out for them. Therefore, these Southern Stingrays are very used to human contact and being handled by the boat crew...always with respect!

 

They are ultimately 'wild' (as opposed to being in captivity) and can come and go at their own free will. All of them have their barbs (apart from the ones either born with no stinger or have had accidents with boat propellers!). But.....these rays are not aggressive to humans in any way. They purely go to the sandbar to feed from us humans. For a Stingray to 'attack' it has to be under attack itself as they use the barb as a defence mechanism.

 

You really havent got anything to worry about (certainly no more so than being in a room with a dog, cat or any other animal) and you will be blown away by how graceful, gentle and magnificant these rays are. As always, treat them with respect and you will have an amazing time with them.

 

Who on earth is 'de barbing' stingrays???

[slotaddict]

The sting rays are very gentle, they are like puppies, they start to come over to the boat as it approaches. they rub up against your legs, it is fantastic to interact with them. We held them, fed them and also got a back massage. I even kissed one right on its face. the only thing Captain Marvin tells you is to keep your feet on the sand, which was difficult for me as I am short and bouyant apparantly. No problems whatsoever, it is an amazing experience.

[caribbean dreams]

Tell you DH he has a better chance of being struck by lightening that being stung by a Sting Ray.

They are gentle and very used to human contact.

Go and have a great time:)