Stingray City Snorkeling better in shallow water or

[4mygrls]

is it better to go deeper? I read some tours saying that they go to the original stingray city site and it is deeper water. They say that there are too many people at the shallow site. I kinda like the idea of the 3ft deep water. But if there is too many people then i would start to feel closterphobic. I read one tour that is a scuba dive tour to stingray city in about 12ft deep water but that seems like a waste of scuba gear for only 12ft deep water. But, then again I've been on a dive where it felt so nice to just sit on the ocean floor and just relax. I actually dosed off and woke up when the regulator started to fall out of my mouth. Anyhow, there are so many different tour companies that offer these stingray city tours that it's hard to decided which ones are good and bad? Any input would be wonderful. :rolleyes:Thanks

Kathi

[Middleager]

This should go to the Grand Cayman port forum, because you are talking about Cayman.

 

There are many cruise ships going to Cayman, and almost half of all the cruise passengers go to the Stingray sandbar trip. It is not really snorkeling because you're not allowed to use fins. Most people don't wear vests either, and just stand in the 3-5' water and may get to pet stingrays. There are lots and lots of ops taking people to the Stingray Sandbar site. Literally thousands of people go there on days the cruise ships are in town.

 

The original Stingray City site is 10-15' of water, for diving. People would use extra weight to stay down, and watch stingrays swim around. It is ok to also snorkel there, but not as good as divers who can move around the water.

 

One big problem in recent years is the stingrays are becoming fat, and losing their natural ability to find food and survive, because boats after boats of people are coming and the guides are feedings lots and lots of squids.

 

In the Caymon forum you'll find many discussions of the various ops taking people to the Stingray sandbar. Most of them (even Carnival) are mistakenly calling it the Stingray City site, even though the Stingray "City" is the original 10-15' deep site.

[bruce-r]

It sounds like you are certified, so I think you should go to the "original" stingray city and do a dive. It will be a lot less crowded and you'll get to see more of the stingrays.

[Russ Lomas]

I have had the fortune of doing both excursions, although many years ago (shallow site about 4 years ago and the deeper site about 10 years ago).

 

The catermaran we took to the shallow site was wonderful and relaxing. When we arrived, we were only the second boat there and there were only about 40 people in the water. It was amazing and there were quite a few stingrays around to play with. Then the cruise excursion boats arrived. Two of them with two levels each and about 200 passengers each. You bumped into people everywhere. It was crazy! Until those large boats arrived...it was unbelievable.

 

The deeper dive was very different. The water was very rough when I dove there. It is very shallow, but the waves were throwing us all over the place. Even below the water, it was very turbulent. The difference here is that there are barely any people at all. When in the water, you are swarmed by rays. They were all over me, especially when you feed them. It was a bit nerve wrenching at times. I got my regulator knocked out once and twice got my mask knocked off by large rays. We also say a large moray eel and a nurse shark there in the coral. Did I enjoy it...definately. You should feel very at ease in this type of environment however, otherwise the rough seas and the aggressive rays may overwhelm you.