Stingray City - Snorkel vs. SCUBA / different sites?

[diversteve]

Check but I don't believe you can wear gloves on Cayman...

help to pick a time;
Ship Schedules - Port Authority of the Cayman Islands

 

[diversteve]

Divers, moray, squid or ballyhoo as bait. What could possibly go wrong?

Nothing if you're careful...

 

[shurite7]

What could possibly go wrong? A moray bite.

Chewed up hands. This happened to a local dive staff member and later to a young diver. Both were feeding the stingrays when the moray bit (several times for the former) them.

 

[EastEndDiver]

Morays are unpredictable and coupled with poor eyesight not a good combo.

Had my left forfinger shredded by a Black Spotted Moray in Cayman a few years ago....was photographing a crab when the eel shot out from a coral head about 3 feet to my left and bit .....my wife saw it happen ....I had no idea what happened even after seeing my finger in shreds and blood gushing.....took me a few to figure it out.........Jason from Ambassador Divers saw what my finger looked like after the bite......this happened at Sundivers going right not left towards Tarpon cave.

 

[flyboy08]

Drive up to Rum Point...one can snorkel out and see Rays or sit back in hammocks and watch the wind blow by

 

[KathyV]

We've done the Stingray City Dive trip 3 times but I have never done the Stingray Sandbar snorkel trip. The first time we went to SRC was decades ago and the excursion was not as popular back then as it is now. We had a wonderful experience and it was a highlight among my diving trips.

Some years later we decided to dive SRC again, but that time it was very crowded and both the divers and the stingrays were aggressive, so we decided "we'll never dive SRC again!"

But later, when we were on the Cayman Aggressor, some of the divers on board had never dived SRC and wanted to do it so we decided to go along - and it was a fantastic experience! We got there at dawn and we were the only boat onsite and it was just great.

I am glad that we went back and gave it another try, but I agree with @Testudo that you should plan to get there at dawn whether you are diving or snorkeling!

 

[KathyV]

...help to pick a time;
Ship Schedules - Port Authority of the Cayman Islands

There isn't an international cruise ship pier on Grand Cayman (at least not yet!) and so the passengers have to be tendered from the ship to the port and back. Because of this we have found that 10 am to 3 pm is usually the peak busy period for the cruise ship crowds, and we try to avoid George Town and the more popular tourists sites during that part of the day.

 

[dberry]

Check but I don't believe you can wear gloves on Cayman...

help to pick a time;
Ship Schedules - Port Authority of the Cayman Islands

Thanks for the Port Authority link, but HOLY @$#@ ! There are cruise ships in port Monday through Friday every week in June. As many as ca. 11,000 visitors when 3 ships are in port. No ships are shown in port on Saturdays or Sundays... is that correct?

If so, it seems we should hit SRC on Sunday, if the diver ops are going out.

 

[KathyV]

Thanks for the Port Authority link, but HOLY @$#@ ! There are cruise ships in port Monday through Friday every week in June. As many as ca. 11,000 visitors when 3 ships are in port. No ships are shown in port on Saturdays or Sundays... is that correct?

If so, it seems we should hit SRC on Sunday, if the diver ops are going out.

I have occasionally seen cruise ships in port on Sunday but not often, but it is the day that a lot of locals like to hit some of the popular spots like Rum Point, so it can still be crowded.

Caribbean destinations like Cayman that didn't get hit by hurricanes last year, have have seen significant increases in visitors this year - and June is a slower month - it can be totally insane in the Winter and early Spring seasons! That's why we prefer to stay on a quieter part of the island and we make an effort to avoid the touristy spots during busy periods. The innkeepers where we stay post a notice in the lobby every day listing the number of cruise ships in port and the expected number of visitors.

That's another reason why we like the small, quiet sister islands of Cayman Brac and Little Cayman - things are never very crowded, but there's not much to do there but eat, sleep, dive and enjoy nature!

 

[FindingMenno]

Thanks for the Port Authority link, but HOLY @$#@ ! There are cruise ships in port Monday through Friday every week in June. As many as ca. 11,000 visitors when 3 ships are in port. No ships are shown in port on Saturdays or Sundays... is that correct?

If so, it seems we should hit SRC on Sunday, if the diver ops are going out.

Hi, as you are talking about diving ops I assume you want to do the 'deep' / 'original' Stingray City, and not the newer 'artificial' sandbar. In that case I wouldn't bother too much with the cruise ship schedule as they all go to the sandbar. The 'original' Stingray City is not too affected by cruise ship visitors.

And yes, we have seen a larger number of ships dropping by Cayman following the hurricane damage in other parts of the Caribbean.