Stingray City

Cayman Islands

I have always wanted to swim with the dolphins. So when our cruise ship stopped in Grand Cayman and the opportunity to swim with stingrays came up, I thought "Stingays will do too". Bear in mind that this was just a couple of months after Steve Irwin was fatally wounded by a stingray. I felt brave.

So there we were, in a motor boat with 20 fellow adventurers, heading towards Stingray City. The prospect of swimming with the stingrays made me a little hungry. I come from Malaysia and we cook them in curries.

When we reached the sandbar, what a sight it was. The water was crystal clear and teeming with huge stingrays. They were about four feet long and 3 feet wide as they glided elegantly through the pristine waters. And there wasn't going to be any swimming. The water was only waist high.

Before we went in, our guide instructed us how to pet them. "Always slide your hand from the top downwards and never upwards". The stingray's tail is serrated like a steak knife and you don't want to move your hands across the sharp barbs.

As our group slid cautiously into the water, the friendly creatures swam up to be petted and more importantly, to be fed. We were all armed with pieces of squids but I had no idea how to feed them. The stingrays had tiny mouths under their flat bodies and they packed quite a suction. They would glide over our hands and suck the squids into their mouths. If you weren't careful they could suck your swimming trunks in along with the food.

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My husband had an interesting encounter which he would rather keep under wraps. But I'm all for sharing. He was wading towards the guide for more food when an over-zealous stingray swam towards his crotch, imagining food there. John yelped when it brushed up against his trunks and clamped his legs together. That quick thinking probably saved his manhood.

Then it was photo op time. The guide wanted us to do a 'kissing' shot with the stingray. We felt foolish but he was very insistent. I got the feeling he wouldn't take us back if we didn't go through with this shot. I was averse to a full-on mouth kiss with a creature I had just met. So we posed with the front flap of the stingray (its mouth is really closer to its belly) over our pouts. Still feel foolish.

We also got up close and personal with several 4-foot long nurse sharks. It was thrilling and unnerving at the same time as we watched the guide feed them. Just seeing the rows of small, serrated teeth sent a tingling down my spine. Somewhere in my head, I distinctly heard the 'JAWS' theme music. In reality, the sharks moved rather sluggishly and seemed perfectly happy to be fed. Phew!

Stingray City is really a multi-species city. We also saw very territorial moray eels and a host of colorful fishes that I could not identify. All in all, a sensational experience. And I mean that literally. Not to be missed if you're down in that neck of the woods.