The "Stingray City" Story

It was an ordinary day. We are headed to world famous Stingray City in Grand Caymen. Jerry, Just Sue, Carol and I are on a 7 day Western Caribbean Cruise with Royal Caribbean. We are on Explorer of the Seas and will have stops in Belize City, Costa Maya, Cozumel and Grand Caymen. Did some really neat things at the other ports and now will try our luck with stingrays. Five months ago Australian celebrity Steve Irwin, known as the Crocodile Hunter, died from an encounter with a stingray. Seems he swam too close to one and when going over top of it the barb from the tail pierced his chest. It's toxin caused him to have a seizure resulting in cardiac arrest. And ..... today we are going to swim with and hold stingrays. It's listed on our brochure as a "once in a lifetime" experience. I hope not! We debark on Grand Caymen and travel in a snorkeling boat to the area where the stingrays gather. Air and water temperature are 82 degrees today. As we approach we can see shadows in the water ahead. The clue to the location would be the six or seven other snorkeling boats that are already there. No wonder the stingrays frequent this area. Daily free food will draw almost anything including humans. We put our snorkel gear on and are given safety tips to follow with the stingrays. OK, let's go! The water is only waist level so it is easy to maneuver around. The rays are beautiful and so graceful as they swim by and around us. Hey, where is the food I'm sure they are saying. We are told to take the squid we are given and hold them on our open hand. The rays will swim over your arm and take the fish with their mouth which is on the underside of the ray. They do have two shell crushing plates in their mouths for crustaceans so we are told not to reach in their mouths. Who we be so stupid? I'm sure someone got fingers crushed at one time or another. Their skin is velvet-like to the touch. Kind of scary when all these rays are around you and hit you with the barb on their tails. I managed to do some snorkeling and take some photos. Then, when the food was gone, they seemed to sense that and headed to another boat. Well, we survived and lived to tell the tale. It was another extraordinary day in the life of an ordinary guy. PS - Pixs from top are: Explorer of the Seas is intimidating, our snorkeling boat, Stingray City site, underwater ray and Carol enjoying touching the underside of a ray.