Swimming with Stingrays in the Cayman Islands

I know what you must be thinking. What type of crazy person goes swimming with stingrays? However,  before you jump to any conclusions let me explain. Anyone who knows me knows that I LOVE discounts! This includes but is not limited to: coupons, 2-for-1 deals, Living Social offers, generally most things that end in ".99" and last but not least, my most favorite of them all FREE!

Well this was exactly the case when I went swimming with stingrays. It was my last Spring Break in college (I just shed a tear) and my friends and I decided to take a cruise. This is prior to 2013, before some cruise ships started breaking down (Another Carnival Cruise Stranded). Our cruise stopped in Ocho Rios, Jamaica and Grand Cayman, Cayman Islands. As soon as we stepped off the cruise it was time to plan our activities for the day. One thing on my list was to go snorkeling. So I began searching and negotiating for the best deal that I could find.

I embarked on this adventure with only one other friend because the rest of the group decided to take a tour around the island. The first vendor we went to was priced too high, the second seemed way too sketchy, and the third vendor came with a catch. It offered one price for both snorkeling and swimming with stings rays…a 2- for-1 deal! I can’t recall the exact price but I know that it was within my budget. With a small group of 15 or so we began our day of adventure. After receiving instructions and advice from our tour guide we stopped in a shallow sandbank in the middle of Stingray City, Grand Cayman. I was kind of excited...I mean how bad could this be? I've seen stingrays plenty of times at the zoo back in Florida as a child. They weren't the most interesting sea creatures I've seen yet I knew I could handle it.

I was so WRONG! I have no idea what was in these stingrays diet but clearly they were over-sized. I mean they were really huge! From afar they just looked like circular shadows floating around but the closer I got the more I wanted to move further away. By this time it was too late as I was waist deep in the sandbank and surrounded by a school of stingrays. I spent the next 30 minutes or so moving from side to side trying my best to stay away from them. I didn't even want a baby stingray to brush the side of my leg. I tried my best not to scream or make a scene, and all I could think about was Steve Irwin “The Crocodile Hunter” and his encounter with a stingray (Read More). When our tour guide yelled “first group back to the boat”, I swam back as fast as I could. This was the first and LAST time I would swim with stingrays.

Stingrays feel like a flat piece of rubber and they are actually rather calm creatures.  My tour guide wanted to place the stingray on my back and asked if I wanted to feed one. I declined both offers and opted to partially hold the stingray. I’m not sure if you can tell but I am definitely forcing a smile in the picture below. Look closer...those are not my hands. lol

If you ever make your way to the Cayman Islands, don't forget to swim with the stingrays!



Have you ever gone swimming with a stingray or shark? Would you?