Please Don't Mishandle the Sealife!

[chillyinCanada]

That ray had a terrible accident/incident at one point in it life.

 

[aviator8]

The sandbar is always a **** show and over crowded

When I went there It was just one boat with 8 people, ours. Crazy to see that traffic jam out there.

 

[Dominik_E]

That looks really overcrowded.

 

[KathyV]

That ray had a terrible accident/incident at one point in it life.

That ray is called Scarface, it's an old injury from a boat propeller. She's a local celebrity.

 

[KathyV]

The sandbar is always a **** show and over crowded

Meh. Many folks are not comfortable snorkeling. I've been to both, many times, with little kids, grandparents and folks that get seasick snorkeling. Stingray City was a not always a good option for the group because of that, but they had fun at the Sandbar.

I agree that it is a goat rope when it is crowded and the big gaudy boats show up and vomit out 200 passengers, but you can schedule around that. The port authority website will give you the cruise ship schedule. Just pick a day with no ships, or only one, and/or go early. Red Sail runs a "Breakfast with the Rays" that usually beats the cattle boat of cruisers by 30 minutes or so, or you can charter and beat them out there by a mile and have plenty of space. About the time the big boats show up, you can be heading off to snorkel or go to Starfish Point or whatever.

Yes, be respectful of the wildlife but that's a different issue.

I go to Stingray city sandbar almost every trip to GC. I like it and my partner, a non-diver loves it. We always use a very small operator with a small boat, usually 8-10 passengers. The guide LOVES these creatures and shares his knowledge and you can tell he loves doing it. He’s been the guide on every trip we’ve taken. We usually try to go on days when there are no cruise ships in. On our last trip down though with all the diving, new guests with us we had to bite the bullet and go when a couple of ships were in town. What frickin’ circus shite show... never again. It was just a giant party to those big ops with footballs being tossed around, music blaring and hundreds of people there. Some of the boats going to and from are LOADED with people, sometimes listing as the cattle are unevenly distributed. Some look like refugee boats.

That whole scene disgusts me. They are known for feeding them things the rays do not normally eat which changes their behavior. Also, the handling of any marine life really irks me.

I wonder what they would think if someone grabbed their backside? Would they get mad? Well, "I was just curious and wanted the experience." Humans do enough harm to marine life as it is.

That ray had a terrible accident/incident at one point in it life.

When I went there It was just one boat with 8 people, ours. Crazy to see that traffic jam out there.

That looks really overcrowded.

The rays are not captive, they can come and go as they please but they have been conditioned to expect food from human interaction. This all started long ago because the Caymanian fishermen would pull into the shallows to clean their catch and the rays would gather to enjoy a snack.

We've dived Stingray City 3 times and the first time was in the 1980s and it wasn't such a big, popular attraction back then. It was a wonderful, exhilarating experience to interact with these beautiful, wild creatures in their natural habitat, and I considered it one of the best experiences of my life.

About 10 years later we did another SRC dive but we made the mistake of going mid-day during the high season and it was a madhouse. There were too many people and boats and the rays were excited and aggressive. We didn't enjoy it at all and we went away from that experience thinking that something wonderful had been destroyed.

Another 10 years went by and we did a trip on the Cayman Aggressor. We spent most of that trip diving the Sister Islands but as we were heading back to Grand Cayman on Thursday night the Captain asked the guests about preferences for our last dives on Friday morning, and he suggested that the first dive be at Sting Ray City.

My husband and I said "No, we've done that, let's do something else" but others hadn't and we were out-voted so we went along - but we didn't expect much. We got there very early in the morning and the Aggressor was the only boat onsite. There were fewer rays and they were relaxed and playful and a wonderful thing happened - the magic came back! It was a amazing experience and I was so glad to once again have had such a wonderful opportunity.

If properly managed Sting Ray City could be an excellent opportunity to teach the public to appreciate and respect wildlife, but without some controls it can become a crazy circus that turns beautiful sea creatures into toys for human amusement - especially Sting Ray Sandbar which is so popular with the cruise ship crowd.

My advice is that every Caribbean diver should dive Sting Ray City at least once, but do it early in the morning and make plans to avoid the crowds. And do it soon, before it is totally destroyed.

 

[Doctorfish]

The sandbar will never be properly managed.
With a new dock and a projected increase in cruise ship visitors to 2 million per year, the sandbar can only get worse. Not to mention the plan to "move" part of the reef on the west side, which anyone with any sense knows to be utter BS.
It is clear to me that the Cayman government is far more interested in filthy lucre than in protecting the environment.

 

[aviator8]

"move" part of the reef on the west side

Move the reef? What part on the west side? That just sounds nuts.

 

[KathyV]

This is in today's issue of Cayman Compass:

Stingrays injured by boats | Cayman Compass

 

[tarponchik]

Oh, the madness of mass tourism...

 

[Doctorfish]

The company potentially building the cruise dock is proposing to move a large section of reef near the dock including the wreck of the Balbo. It's hard enough to transplant a small amount of living coral let alone a whole reef. Goodbye, Balboa,Cheeseburger, Soto's, Eden Rock, Devils Grotto and more.
I think the government, cruise ship companies, and dock construction company are just throwing this reef transplant garbage out as a sop to the environmentalists. Total BS. The company, ironically, is called Verdant Isle Consortium.

The Cayman National Trust, Central Caribbean Marine Institute, and other environmental groups are up in arms. The Cayman government had scheduled a referendum for Dec 19 but was forced to delay. They have been mounting a huge pro dock publicity campaign in the interim. The Cayman Compass has been reporting on the pros and cons of the dock project for a while. Interesting but sad reading.

At the end of the day the island belongs to the Caymanians and it is there decision what to do, but it will be a shame to lose a whole chunk of west side reef and have significantly more cruisers on island. I just hope they leave the Brac and LC alone.