Stingray City - Snorkel vs. SCUBA / different sites?

[dberry]

I'm spending a 4 days in a VRBO on 7mi beach with my daughter and her 3 non-diving friends. I'm diving with Living the Dream in the mornings, but we're trying to find some afternoon activities for the entire group.

I've read there are two distinct "Stingray City" sites - one on a sandbar only 4 ft deep where folks snorkel (or just swim), and another about 3 miles away that is about 12 ft deep where you can snorkel or scuba.

I've heard that the cruise ship folks go for the 4ft experience, which can get crowded.

My first thought is to do the 12 ft deep site, with me on SCUBA and my daughter and friends snorkeling. Living the Dream charges $75 for a 1 tank afternoon dive there, and $45 for snorkelers.

Can anyone compare experiences at the two sites, and offer any advice? Have I overlooked anything?

Many thanks!
-Don

 

[boulderjohn]

I have been to both.

For the shallow site, you have to pick your time. I went with a group that scheduled it so we were the only ones there. My wife is a non-diver, and it was a great experience for her.

The next day I did the dive site, and it was a lot of fun. It is a very different experience from the standing site.

 

[shurite7]

There are many more people at the Sandbar standing around than there are divers at both location. I used to work in Cayman and we took people on a dive rather than standing around with mobs of other people. The experience of the stingrays swimming all around you is rather nice in comparison of them swimming around your legs. We cut up the bait (squid) and handed it out to the divers so that they could feed the stingrays.

The dive is fairly easy. Every once in a while a current will move through the bay, but that was rare and it wasn't too strong, just annoying.

I've done both and found the dive experience was by far more enjoyable. Some of the tourists that we took stated they preferred the dive over the standing.

 

[diversteve]

There was a family on our SRC dive - mom/dad did the dive while the kids snorkeled down. You're there almost 45mins. so what they did - and we also did near the end - is keep the squid closed in out hands - away from the rays - till the kids swam down and grabbed it to feed them. Watching them was almost as much fun as feeding the rays.

If a ray smells the squid on you, they have tricks to make you open your hand so keep it away from them - the second you don't - it's gone. They have bony plates in their mouths and that combined with the suction they generate can leave a temporary mark - mine lasted about 2 weeks after I got home.

Also look for one of Psycho's (Moray) descendants in the coral patch nearby. They're pretty blind but if you move really slow (and have the nerve) you can get pretty close. They do bite and their fangs are in the back of their mouth so it can be a very painful experience if one gets hold of you, Also may require a tetanus shot.

Here's the snorkel (Sandbar) vs.the dive - you pick...

Stingray City, Grand Cayman - Wikipedia

http://www.cobaltcoast.com/images/4kids2rayshorizadj.jpg

 

[gr8jab]

I would go with the sandbar for non-divers. Standing around the sandbar they will get the most interaction with the rays, and can feed and touch them. Sometimes, you can't help but have them swarm around and brush your legs.

Snorkeling over the dive site would be interesting, but much less of an experience than the sandbar.

Diving the dive site would be my first choice, but not much better than


I think the locals have a reliable schedule of the cruise ship days/times. Maybe pick an off time, or a day with less ships in port.

 

[Saboteur]

I've done both as well. The shallow site is a lot of fun for divers and non divers. You will really get up close and personal with the rays. It was one of the highlights of my trip last year. I used Ambassador divers. Their excursion also includes a snorkel at a shallow coral reef which is quite good. The deeper scuba site is also fun. I was there on a day with two other divers from our boat, the DM and no other boats around. We had squid to feed them and they just followed us around for over 90 minutes. Another nice dive is what I believe is called Ray's bedroom. This location is where the rays come to rest after a busy afternoon feeding at the snorkel site. Many rays come down from the shallows and settle into the sand for a snooze. Agree on the being cautious when feeding. I was a bit slow on getting my fingers out of the way and had a little chunk of skin scraped off.

 

[dberry]

Thanks for the input, folks! I think we'll try to schedule a relatively quiet time at the sandbar for the entire group, and then I'll consider a second trip by myself to the deeper site, if I want more time with the rays.

I suppose it really comes down to how the snorkelers would handle the 12' site. Strong swimmers who like to go underwater would probably get a lot more out of it than someone who likes to poke around on the surface looking down.

Also, it sounds like I'll want to wear my thin, cut-resistant gloves ($8 kitchen carving gloves, gotta love it!)

 

[Testudo]

If your group is willing and you are able to schedule a dawn sting ray city sandbar trip, it is a much more enjoyable experience than mid-day when the cruise ship excursions overwhelm the place. Late afternoon trips are great too. I've done both the dive site and sandbar as a snorkeler and enjoyed each, but the sandbar location is my prefered for taking non-diver visitors and will now only do dawn trips.

Dawn visit to the sandbar with not another boat in sight and the rays queuing up to meet us.

 

[Doctorfish]

Another option is to schedule a sandbar trip on a Friday afternoon as the cruise ship people are heading back to their ships. I use a small operator named Dexter who runs his own boat and takes a relaxed personable approach to the trip. Fantasea Tours. As I recall, there are no gloves allowed interacting with the rays.

One of the previous posters, Diversteve, commented on a moray near the stingray City Dive site. Divers, moray, squid or ballyhoo as bait. What could possibly go wrong? A moray bite might require more than a tetanus shot.

 

[arew+4]

For the non divers, I would recommend the shallower site. Check the cruise ship schedule and plan around it. When you are out for a two tank dive if your in the area, ask if you can do the SI at the deeper site. When we were there in the late 90s the dive operator we were with did this for us no tanks, just snorkels.