Stingrays at HMC-Carnival Destiny excursion

[steve4040]

I have seen little about this excursion. We enjoyed the stingrays last year in Grand Cayman, and would enjoy them again. Is there any reason to not do the stingrays at HMC.

 

Thanks

[twinkletoes4445]

We've not done the stingrays at HMC, but have done the ones at GC, so I can't really compare the two. The only thing I know is the ones at HMC are in an enclosed area and you walk down stairs to get to the water. I don't know how deep the water is, or any of the details. We went for a walk and came across the area, so we took a few pictures. They must feed the stingrays because they immediately swam up to the dock when we approached. :)

 

Here are a few pictures we took on 2/1/09. Once you bring up the picture, you can click the "full size" icon on the top right and the picture will get quite a bit larger.

 

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2851178760104783828zQVKBR

 

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2823671670104783828QMIkCU

 

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2181660970104783828iDePAZ

 

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2517995810104783828yyehDk

 

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2909339870104783828HuAUcD

 

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2088261490104783828HriuIv

 

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2699273070104783828ZlpfBi

 

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2034588830104783828MiscBf

[steve4040]

The pictures really helped me understand HMC. I appreciate your efforts. How hard is it to get around the island? Is it pretty big?

[twinkletoes4445]

It's a fairly small area that is used on the island. We walked the beach (beyond the last cabana) and then did the loop that took us past the aqua trax area (wave runners) and the stingray area, and it didn't take us too long. We are in our 50's, so we just puttered along. They do have an open air bus type of vehicle that will transport you back to the tender area. It passed by us a few times when we were walking the loop. :)

 

I think the walk from the Stingray area back to the beach area (where the light blue cabana is and the watersports #2 area is located) took us about 10 minutes, but we stopped and took pictures along the way. There's a nature trail that shoots off the side and we wandered down that path a bit, and then came back to the paved road.

 

Here's a photo of the map that you'll get when going to HMC.

 

http://travel.webshots.com/photo/2406705090104783828jPzKMr

 

 

Here's the rest of my HMC pictures..

 

http://travel.webshots.com/album/570048717ERbxaa

 

If you have any other questions, I'll be happy to help you. I have more pictures that I have not posted on webshots, so if there's something in particular you are looking for, I can look through those and add any I would find to my webshots album.

 

HMC is our favorite island. The sand is like white cake powder and the water is so blue. It was cloudy for most of the day when we were there this time, but when the sun is out...the colors of the water are just stunning.

[steve4040]

It is people like you who make this a great place to research trips. Enjoy your future cruises.

[twinkletoes4445]

It is people like you who make this a great place to research trips. Enjoy your future cruises.

 

Thank you. That is so very nice of you to say that. :)

 

I try and give back as much as I can because I've gathered a lot of great info here at CC for our cruises. We're off to Alaska next, so I've been asking all sorts of questions because we know nothing about Alaska. But thanks to the helpful posters here, we now have a plan.

 

Happy Cruising! :)

[steve4040]

But it is EXPENSIVE. But now I have a good TA so I will put her to work on it when we get back from this cruise.

[twinkletoes4445]

But it is EXPENSIVE. But now I have a good TA so I will put her to work on it when we get back from this cruise.

 

It is expensive! I expected that it would be, but I was surprised at how much money we're going to be spending...once I started adding it up. We'll probably only go once, so I want to make sure we see as much as we can see on that trip... :)

 

Happy Cruising! :)