Stingray City

One of the big touristy-things to do on Grand Cayman is go to Stingray City and play with the stingrays. That isn't as dangerous as it might sound, as these are stingrays that are very fond of tourists--not to nibble, but for the pieces of squid we feed to them. Mmmmm...raw squid! Well, if you were a stingray, that would get your mouth watering! They see the boats coming and flock around us. Our first stop was Stingray Sandbar, where the water was only about waist deep. We all got in the water and were surrounded by hungry stingrays! A stingray's mouth is on the bottom side, with their eyes on the top, so they can't actually see what they are eating. They suck out conch from shells quite effectively, we were told. Caution: do not wipe your hand on yourself after you've fed the stingrays a piece of squid. Hmm. good to know! I got a piece of squid out of the container and was instantly the best friend of a large female stingray (the males are smaller--this one was BIG!) Our guide told us to make them work for their food--but she was so eager, she nibbled it out of my hand in seconds!

Stingrays are rough on the top, with a sand-like texture. Good thing, since they burrow in the sand to sleep and their rough surface blends right in. Underneath, though, they are white and soft. Feel the inside of your cheek with your finger. Go ahead, do it! Yes! That is how the stingray felt when I got to hold one. The guide told us we had to kiss the stingray, since it is a tradition and gives one 7 years good luck. I'm not sure, it might just be a thing they have tourists do for the video, so they can chuckle later about how silly tourists are and how they can get us to do anything! Nevertheless, we all kissed the stingray. Aurora was her interested water-baby self, looking around intently and trying to taste the water. She didn't mind kissing...or was it tasting? the stingray. She even got to sit on one, held up of course, by her mommy, Frieda.

Our next stop was a little further on: the barrier reef and snorkeling. Aurora and I stayed on the boat for this part of the adventure. She was ready for a nap and I have to sneak in the grandma/granddaughter cuddling time when I can get it--what with Aurora's two doting aunties around. Off they went, to explore the reef. The guide played with an eel and they saw lots of fish.




After a while, the guide hopped back on the boat. I asked him how long he gives the group to play at the reef. He replied that they all come back on their own eventually. I thought to myself, "he doesn't know Liz!" Sure enough, one by one, the rest of our group came back to the boat. Several of them said, "we're all here, we can go now!" HA! No we can't! I told them my daughter was still in the water. By this time, there was another boat load of tourists in the water, so it wasn't that they were really trying to leave Liz behind... About that time, Liz popped out of the water, having noticed the rest of our group was gone. She told me later she could have stayed in longer--she was having fun--but felt guilty about the rest of us sitting there, waiting for her. Oooh well!