Im getting ready to leave on Friday for the Cayman Islands for 7 days. Im going to Stingray city for sure and Im not sure whether to dive it or snorkel it. It looks like the pictures are pretty cool when your holding them and on the surface and stuff, but the expirenece also looks sweet by diving it so what would anyone on this forum suggest?? thank you
Stingray City Debate
- Thread starter Bflem55
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SterlingDiver
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I don't know for sure what would be best since I have only snorkeled there. It is very shallow.
It will be interesting to see what others think.
Dave
It will be interesting to see what others think.
Dave
Twistedarts
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I was there just a month or so ago and posted a trip report. You may find it useful.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cayman-islands/245208-trip-report-grand-cayman-7-18-7-22-a.html
As to stingray city, you gotta do it. I did the snorkel and it was a gas. I wish I had dove it though. The name should be stingray city feeding frenzy. They know you bring food so they are somewhat zealous. They bump into you and swarm all around which can be a bit unsettling since you are in only 3.5 feet of water. Which is why I wish I dove instead. It was still very enjoyable though and you will have a good time.
http://www.scubaboard.com/forums/cayman-islands/245208-trip-report-grand-cayman-7-18-7-22-a.html
As to stingray city, you gotta do it. I did the snorkel and it was a gas. I wish I had dove it though. The name should be stingray city feeding frenzy. They know you bring food so they are somewhat zealous. They bump into you and swarm all around which can be a bit unsettling since you are in only 3.5 feet of water. Which is why I wish I dove instead. It was still very enjoyable though and you will have a good time.
DiveShops_Mel
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I went several years ago and only snorkeled. It's not really deep at all so you can do some breath-hold diving if you want. I have a sweet picture with a stingray on my back at the surface (one of the tour guides had put it on there)!
-Melissa
-Melissa
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We 1st did it in '89 I think it was, enjoyed diving it over snorkling it.........Where we used to go was depth wise better for diving, don't know where they take you today(maybe shallower???)
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There is a specific Stingray City site. There is also a nearby site called Sandbar where most of the snorkeling is done.
The dive is all about the interaction with the Stingray's. As long as there's any squid being offered, you'll pretty much get mobbed by them. It sort of feels like being smothered by a muscled mushroom. Our dive was called on time (45min) because everybody still had air.
I don't know if it's true, but I've read somewhere that since the Irwin incident, only the DM's handle the bait now. Which might be better, several years later I've still got traces of a Stingray "kiss" on my wrist.
The dive takes place in a flat sandy area with a few small coral patches nearby. After the squid was gone (the rays immediately move on to the next boat) we found the resident Moray, by moving slowly I was able to get within 2' of him w/o upsetting him. I think he was hoping I had something left for him.
We were on a diveboat but all the kids in one divers family snorkeled with us. At 15' they could stay down long enough to have a good experience.
The dive is all about the interaction with the Stingray's. As long as there's any squid being offered, you'll pretty much get mobbed by them. It sort of feels like being smothered by a muscled mushroom. Our dive was called on time (45min) because everybody still had air.
I don't know if it's true, but I've read somewhere that since the Irwin incident, only the DM's handle the bait now. Which might be better, several years later I've still got traces of a Stingray "kiss" on my wrist.
The dive takes place in a flat sandy area with a few small coral patches nearby. After the squid was gone (the rays immediately move on to the next boat) we found the resident Moray, by moving slowly I was able to get within 2' of him w/o upsetting him. I think he was hoping I had something left for him.
We were on a diveboat but all the kids in one divers family snorkeled with us. At 15' they could stay down long enough to have a good experience.
segundo3000gt
Contributor
I would highly recommend scuba. We went with Divers Down scuba shop. They pointed to where the sand bar was for snorkel but we went out along the barrier reef in around 15 feet of water. We deflated our BC's so we could basically sit in a circle on the sand floor and the dive master swam around and gave us pieces of squid as needed to attract the stingrays. I had heard that only dive masters could handle the squid when I was looking for information for my cruise this past spring but we were definitely able to use the squid to play with the stingrays. I can't speak for snorkeling but while diving you could hold your hand over your head and have the stingray swim right over you. It was like having a 3D remote control car. I believe we were able to get around 5 stingrays of different sizes swimming around our group and because the dive was so shallow we were underwater around 45 minutes.
mike_s
Contributor
It's all at one site as steve said above.
I think the dive version of it is just in a deeper area of the sandbar.
The snorkle trip was nice. But they pack them on the boats. There must have been 50 to 75 people on our boat, but once in the water it thinned out. It was still fun. There were prob 5 other boats there when we did it.
but it's not like the TV commercials where they have just you and your family there in the water alone with the stingrays.
There are a lot of boats there.... enough that you can even see them all on Google Maps
grand cayman -StingRay City- Google Maps
I think the dive version of it is just in a deeper area of the sandbar.
The snorkle trip was nice. But they pack them on the boats. There must have been 50 to 75 people on our boat, but once in the water it thinned out. It was still fun. There were prob 5 other boats there when we did it.
but it's not like the TV commercials where they have just you and your family there in the water alone with the stingrays.
There are a lot of boats there.... enough that you can even see them all on Google Maps
grand cayman -StingRay City- Google Maps
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