Stingray Encounters

[Host Mick]

As many of you know, Steve Irwin, the "Crocodile Hunter" was killed over the weekend by a stingray. He was diving with them in Australia when one struck him in the chest.
I was wondering how this will effect the many swim with the stingray excursions offered in the Caribbean. Has any cruise line dropped them from their offerings? Have the stingray people changed their rules about walking vs. swimming? Are people aware of how rare this type of attack is and nothing has changed?
I wonder if RCI is going to continue to run that "They look like big portabello mushrooms" commercial with the Iggy Pop music.

[gatour]

I don't currently have a stingray excursion booked but wouldn't hestitant on booking another one esp in Stingray City in Grand Cayman. They are a little more used to people.

I think Steve Irwin may have been doing something a typical tourist wouldn't normally do with a stingray, i.e. swimming upside down under the stingray.

[pppiglet]

I didn't want to see the Stingrays even BEFORE he was killed. They just give me the creeps!

[gatour]

Too bad, they are actually very cool and in general gentil animals.

[cruisecastle]

As many of you know, Steve Irwin, the "Crocodile Hunter" was killed over the weekend by a stingray. He was diving with them in Australia when one struck him in the chest.
I was wondering how this will effect the many swim with the stingray excursions offered in the Caribbean. Has any cruise line dropped them from their offerings? Have the stingray people changed their rules about walking vs. swimming? Are people aware of how rare this type of attack is and nothing has changed?
I wonder if RCI is going to continue to run that "They look like big portabello mushrooms" commercial with the Iggy Pop music.

FYI on the stingray excursion on castaway cay the sting rays have all had there barbs removed.

[Dandy8]

It's a shame that this happened to Steve. DH & I did the excursion StingRay City in 2003. It was a great experience and I agree with gatour that they are so used to humans. Hopefully the cruiselines won't cancel these excursions due to this extremely rare case. It would greatly hurt those people who run those tours. I would book it again in a heartbeat!

[jumbo29]

Ok, first of all, they do not "remove" the stingrays barb. They do, however, trim them. They are just like an animals nail and can be trimmed and rounded. Steve was not doing anything unuasual except that he was swimming with wild rays who have no one to trim their barb. When you work with animals you know that anything can happen and it is never the animals fault. They are simply being themselves. Also, the rays that you would swim with at any of the encounter places are very comfortable around people and are use to being hand fed and touched. You really need to try feeding a ray, it's a unique experience!! Oh, one more thing, Steve was swimming over the top of the ray which is why he got hit. The barb is on the top of the animal. Hope this helps and I hope you still go and have this unique and very cool experience! Life really is too short to worry about a 1 in a billion chance like that! :eek:

[joshdawg24]

I did the StingRay City thing 2 days after the incident. I don't think very many people were affected by what happened. There were still tons of people there. Our guide explained to us exactly what happened. It was basically a freak accident. Stingrays don't attack people. They sting people by accident. Just keep your feet planted (to avoid stepping on the tail) and don't try and ride them or anything.

[Host Mick]

Ok, first of all, they do not "remove" the stingrays barb. They do, however, trim them. They are just like an animals nail and can be trimmed and rounded. Steve was not doing anything unuasual except that he was swimming with wild rays who have no one to trim their barb. When you work with animals you know that anything can happen and it is never the animals fault. They are simply being themselves. Also, the rays that you would swim with at any of the encounter places are very comfortable around people and are use to being hand fed and touched. You really need to try feeding a ray, it's a unique experience!! Oh, one more thing, Steve was swimming over the top of the ray which is why he got hit. The barb is on the top of the animal. Hope this helps and I hope you still go and have this unique and very cool experience! Life really is too short to worry about a 1 in a billion chance like that! :eek:

The barb is on the bottom of the tail about half-way out. I was struck by one once while I was playing in San Francisco Bay. I stepped on it and didn't realise what it was at the time. I stood on it for a fw seconds before it took a shot at me. It hit my lower leg with a glancing blow and not much damage. I never told my parents because I thought that they would get mad at me for playing in the bay without telling them.
The bottom of the Bay is thick with them. It's not unusual to see them "lost " in shallow mud flats with their tail out of the water moving around looking like a little periscope.

[eznunzit]

We just did a Stingray Encounter in Nassau last Monday and it was one of the highlights of the trip. Like everyone has said they are used to humans. They were nudging up against us like a dog would to get our attention. It was great and we can not wait to try another stingray adventure! I have a 4 & 8 year old, the 4yr old was not into it but the 8yr old was amazed...

[Rykat247]

Good information and accurate above except for barb trimming,NOT they are removed (and will generally grow back though stunted):)