How long with Stingrays?

[twinkle toes]

Can anyone tell me how long you are actually with the stingrays on the Blackbeard's Cay Stringray Excursion from RCI?

[bigsky]

We did it through Cap't Marvins twice. He took us to 3 places. Ended up being with the stingrays for 1/2 hr at least.

We found them to be great and the least expensive at that time when we went.

 

They're online if you're interested. If you already booked, have a great time! We had a blast!

[shankiko]

Isn't a sting ray what killed Steve Irwin? Is it really safe to be in the water with them? This is something I would love to do but I am a bit leery about it. I know MANY people have done this so am I being nuts to be afraid?

Shankiko

[mgmigs]

i've done it twice but i don't remember the name of the companies. i think it was about 45 min actually in the water with the stingrays.

[d&a Delaware]

Isn't a sting ray what killed Steve Irwin? Is it really safe to be in the water with them? This is something I would love to do but I am a bit leery about it. I know MANY people have done this so am I being nuts to be afraid?

Shankiko

 

The Steve Irwin accident was very unusual, perhaps he did something which caused the animal to be frightened, especially if it was not accustomed to being around humans, but the Stingray City tours in Grand Caymans and perhaps others in other ports are quite safe. These animals are accustomed to being around hundreds, if not thousands of us every day, and are not threatened or behaving defensively. We did it in Grand Caymans a couple of years ago, and it was really neat. Only downside was the very large number of other excursion boats full of people all around us. We were in the water with the stingrays for about a half of an hour.

 

David

 

PS I think there is a picture of Allen and me and a stingray on our profile page -- click on our screen name.

[linkerbink]

About how deep is the water on the Stingray City tours? I'd love to do it, but my sister/travel partner doesn't like water that's over her head.

[d&a Delaware]

Water is between waist and chest high. Your feet are always comfortably on the bottom. Again, check the picture at our profile page. We are both squating down into the water in that picture.

 

David

[TEXASMUNK]

The Sting Ray that killed Steve Irwin was a totally different breed!!!!!

 

The barb punctured his heart and if they had not removed it, on site, and transported him with the barb, there was a very good chance he might have survived.

 

Back to Grand Cayman. 10's of thousands of folks have visited sting ray city. Captain Marvin is the guy who figured out that the rays congregated in that area when the fishermen stopped and cleaned their catch.

 

If you allow even the slighest fear to deter you, you will miss an experience of a lifetime.

 

These rays will not attack. Actually, to make you feel even better, if you shuffle your feet, instead of taking steps in the water, you will absolutely, positively, not hurt a ray or the ray hurt you.

[jmezmom]

We did the tour with moby dick tours.....only 30 people on board, close to an hour with the rays and they provided us with squid to habd feed them. Also, they don't rush you while trying to hold them like the ship excursions photographers do. BRING YOUR OWN WATERPROOF CAMERA!

[bigsky]

Steve also grabbed it from behind. You only walk in the water with them...feed them if you want and pet them. They swim against your body and very slimy.

I'm the biggest chicken in the world and I loved it!

Just don't stand on their tales...that's where the stingers are.

 

It's great fun! :D

[bigsky]

tails....oops...spelled wrong :rolleyes:

[twinkle toes]

Anyone do the Royal Caribbean excursion while in Nassau?

[linkerbink]

Water is between waist and chest high. Your feet are always comfortably on the bottom. Again, check the picture at our profile page. We are both squating down into the water in that picture.

 

David

 

Thanks, David. If she has any qualms I'll let her know that the water won't be over her head.

[LizC]

We have done the strings twice...wonderful time nothing to fear.

 

We also once combined it with a snorkel.. you really need to do that.

 

Steve Irwin, should have know better he swam up over the wild Ray from behind just like Sharks do. The Ray had no idea you just never ever swim up behind a wild ray.

 

Now these ray are smaller and have been around people for many many years. Not the same at all. You are in waist high water.

 

Go enjoy LIVE!!

[Dremac373]

Anyone do the Royal Caribbean excursion while in Nassau?

 

Hey twinkle dw and I did it well I shall say I did it while she lounged on the beach, the smell she said made her nauseous. We got to the location after a nice 10 minute boat ride and there was a another group already there so we waited all of another 5 or so minutes til they were done...The let you swim with them for a good 15-20 minutes then we all lined up males on one side females on another all in a shallower part of the fenced in beach. We all kneeled down facing inward as the stingrays swam up in down the as if they were in a dance line :p. Some swam behind you brushing up against your legs, if you wanted to feed them you would place your hand in front of you with lil fish/food and they would swim up to your hand and suck the fish/food right out of your hand....be advise that they ask before entering the water to remove all watches rings and bracelets so not to scratch the rays. after the feeding you will have the opportunity to take the souvenir pix if you like or relax on the beach, eat or banana boat ride until your boat is ready to return...I hope this was helpful :)

[honeywell]

Tip: take the first excursion offered in the day. The rays will be happy to see you (and the food) because they won't be overfed already.

 

I took my kids (ages 5 and 6 at the time) and even THEY loved it. They give you masks, snorkle and floatation vest for safety. Water is waist deep but you can easily float, as my kids did.

[Dremac373]

Tip: take the first excursion offered in the day. The rays will be happy to see you (and the food) because they won't be overfed already.

 

I took my kids (ages 5 and 6 at the time) and even THEY loved it. They give you masks, snorkle and floatation vest for safety. Water is waist deep but you can easily float, as my kids did.

 

I forgot about the gear they provide and we too did what we thought was the 1st tour but there was another ship in port that happened to get there before us, got back to the ship and the port looked like a parking lot of ships so you can imagine how packed the tours were

 

[shankiko]

The Steve Irwin accident was very unusual, perhaps he did something which caused the animal to be frightened, especially if it was not accustomed to being around humans, but the Stingray City tours in Grand Caymans and perhaps others in other ports are quite safe. These animals are accustomed to being around hundreds, if not thousands of us every day, and are not threatened or behaving defensively. We did it in Grand Caymans a couple of years ago, and it was really neat. Only downside was the very large number of other excursion boats full of people all around us. We were in the water with the stingrays for about a half of an hour.

 

David

 

PS I think there is a picture of Allen and me and a stingray on our profile page -- click on our screen name.

so much for the info all of you. I would really like to do this and now I am sure I will. Also, I can't swim so knowing the water is only that depth makes me feel much better. BTW when went went to Australia we visited the Australia Zoo which was magnificent. Steve Irwin sure was a protector of animals and now his young daughter Bindy Sue is taking his place. If you ever go to Aust. please visit the zoo.

Shankiko

[poppyskim]

If you are looking too go to STINGRAY city at Grand Cayman I can not say enough about the Island Marketing JETSKI tour. We rode out on great jetski's , as we wanted not a single file slow line. Oueg uide showed us the stingrays and we feed them. We were not crammed on those people packed tour boats. When we were ready we drove over to Hell beach - beautiful and then finally back to the hotel beach --------to this day our best ever excursion.

[sharod]

We did the sting ray excursion through RC April '06 on the Freedom. Was the best excursion of the trip!!! Would do it again in a heartbeat. The boat ride to the sandbar is about 45 minutes. I don't remember how long we were there, but I would say definitely more than 1/2 hour. The water was so warm, I could have stayed here all day. Here are some pics from our trip.

 

This is the boat we rode on. Pleasant ride, the operators were great!! You can choose whether you want to wear a life preserver or not.

 

The water doesn't get much deeper than this. Sometimes you have stingrays all around you, sometimes they are off visiting another person. The floating bucket on the right side of the pic has squid in it. The sting rays love to be fed!

 

This was one of the larger stingrays. My husband cut my head off:D !

 

This fellow is one of the tour operators. He talks about the sting rays and then helps you hold one. She was a biggie!! As you can see here, the water is shallow. I was on my knees.

[morebeaches]

Absolutely a fantastic tour

Absolutely take the earliest one you can before it gets too crowded

 

The stingrays are like big puppy dogs, but they are very mercenary. As long as you have squid they will be all around you. As soon as you run low and another boat shows up, they are off to the new source of food. We played with them for about 45 minutes, we did the combo with the snorkling through the ship and there were only about 25 people on our boat.