Best place to see Stingrays?

[canadarocks]

I'm trying to decide between two different HAL shore excursions and would appreciate some help. Currently we have the Stingray Encounter at Half Moon Cay booked at a very inexpensive rate of $19 a person.

There is also a Gibb's Cay Stingray excursion at Grand Turk that we can do, but it is quite a bit more expensive ($59) but from the pictures I've seen it looks wonderful!

Has anyone done both or can anyone recommend one highly? Thanks!

[Cathy-CA]

We did Half Moon Cay in October and enjoyed it, but it's not much of a snorkeling adventure. You only spend about 45 minutes in the water and can just stand there if you want (and some did). The person who was running it that day was great. He pulled conch, sea stars, sea cucumbers and other creatures out of the water to show us. So, even those who didn't snorkel had a good time. The cove has a fence around it to keep larger creatures out and a small reef area. Plenty of sting ray, so you get to see them up close as they brush against you. For the price, it's a good value and worth doing.

[catl331]

Don't know when you are going but we went in Dec to Half Moon and the water was quite cold. Maybe it was high tide but the water was not shallow. Also the fellow running it was very boring! Didn't say much.

[canadarocks]

Two very different reviews, right?
We're going in mid March.

[m steve]

try going to a Corvette convention.

[canadarocks]

try going to a Corvette convention.

:D But they are nowhere near as soft and playful! ;)

[igraf]

You can do the San Diego stingray encounter for free :-)

http://www.10news.com/news/24262545/detail.html

I have seen them here in San Diego myself while snorkeling, hundreds of stingrays all around where people go to the beach.

igraf





I'm trying to decide between two different HAL shore excursions and would appreciate some help. Currently we have the Stingray Encounter at Half Moon Cay booked at a very inexpensive rate of $19 a person.

There is also a Gibb's Cay Stingray excursion at Grand Turk that we can do, but it is quite a bit more expensive ($59) but from the pictures I've seen it looks wonderful!

Has anyone done both or can anyone recommend one highly? Thanks!

[hensghan]

We did the Half Moon Cay stingray adventure last December and, while it was fun and informative, the weather did not cooperate. It was misting and the water was somewhat cool, but that was not unusual for the southern Bahamas at that time of year, and I wouldn't think March might be too different. HMC is just too far north to be too warm too early. While you cannot beat the HMC stingray adventure price, I would think Grand Turk would promise you a far greater likelihood of a truly enjoyable stingray adventure, albeit at the cost of a few extra dollars.

[VioletHorse]

DH and I did the Stingray and Snorkel excursion in Grand Turk in November 2009. It was fantastic. The excursion boat anchored in shallow water at Gibbs Cay. We got into the water near the shore and were given chopped up fish to feed the rays - wow - they came right up to us and gently ate right out of our hands. We also found that they liked to swim around our legs, brushing us lightly. It was like cats, but in water :D.

If you were so inclined, you could have a picture taken while you kissed a ray. We passed on that.

We the donned the snorkel gear and started to follow one of the excursion leaders to a reef about 150 feet from shore. However, I had a problem with my mask and could not adjust it properly while I was in the water. I returned to shore, fixed the mask and started back out toward the reef, but rain was quickly approaching, the currents got very strong and almost impossible to swim against so DH and I never did get to the reef. The underwater visibility declined dramatically with those strong currents as well, so we were a bit disappointed but still had a great time on this excursion.

I'd definitely do this excursion again.

[canadarocks]

Thanks so much for the helpful responses (and the playful ones!;))

I think we will book the Gibb's Cay excursion in Grand Turk (and then head to Jack's Shack :)).

But now I need help in deciding if we should cancel our HMC Snorkeling excursion or should we do it: in addition to Gibb's Cay?

p.s. have I mentioned that I love you all here at CC! :cool:

[Lvteks]

After a great private stingray adventure at Grand Cayman, HMC was a cold disappointment. Grand Turk sounds more like the great experience we had. It is still a high point of cruising. I would spend the HMC fee on something else. Have fun!

Blessings,
Gail

[moggi1964]

Our experience at HMC was that the water was cold (until you had been in a while) and the staff were great.

The Stingrays swam around and between us and the feeding was a treat for my wife and son (I took the option to be the photog).

It wasn't really a snorkeling adventure but was definitely a close up and personal with the Rays.

Really good value IMHO and especially for those who weren't confident swimmers or snorkelers.

Ignore the date on the pictures; I did't get chance to change the setting on my son's camera. These were taken less than a week ago.

[Rob Roy]

I'd say one of the best places to play with Sting Rays is Morea Thaiti I've done a couple in the Carrib but nothing compares .We were off a Motu in 4ft of water Black tipped sharks were swimming arround us 15 ft away A Ray wrapped it's self arround a woman She screamed & dropped the fish head we were using to attract them ,a shark swam between her legs & grabbed it before it hit the sand. We were on the Thaitan Princess.