Stingray City

Do you recoment Stingray City?! & how much does it cost?

We just did the "swim with rays" shore excursion to Stingray City in December, and loved it. A couple of things to keep in mind:

--We were aboard Costa Mediterranea, and the shorex price was about the same as doing it on your own.

--It's about a 30-minute drive to the Stingray City site.

--The site is in an open-water lagoon, about a 5-minute ride from shore. There's a platform where boats dock, and a ladder down into the water. The stingrays are in a large netted area, and there are about 18 of them. You get a mask and snorkel as part of the package, but we mostly walked around in the water (about 4 ft. deep). There is a sandy bottom, and the water was quite calm when we were there.

--The stingrays are all hand-fed squid, which makes them very friendly and curious about anyone in the enclosure. They'll swim by you, brushing your legs with their "wings." It's a weird, but wonderful feeling. You can also pet and hold them, with the help of the guides, who are great. If you want, you can feed them, with a guide's help.

--Their "stingers" are intact, but the guides explain that you won't be in danger unless you step on one, which won't happen if you shuffle your feet along the bottom.

--They take photos that you can decide to purchase as prints or on a CD for $15/shot.

--All in all, it was a great experience, well run, and we felt it was a good value for the cost ($89 on our ship, including transport).

--If you're interested in visiting Nelson's Dockyard, you might want to ask the driver who takes you to Stingray City to see if he can find someone to take you directly to the dockyard after your stingray experience. It's half the distance of going back to St. John's and then traveling to the dockyard. You might not save any money on transportation, but you'll save time.

Thank you so much for telling me all about the Stingray City. That was very helpful. Our cruise ship is selling tickets for $70, but i contacted Stingray City and they are charging only $50. So i just need to make sure why there is a $20 difference in the price.

It will likely cost you the $20 for transportation to and from the ship

The official rate is $22 each way from St. John's (more if you're docked at the deep-water port) in a taxi (up to 4 people) - and taxis don't hang out there, so you might have to pay extra for one to wait. If you you have multiple people, or if you're hiring someone to take you around for the day, it could be worth doing it "a la carte" - for example, if you want to go to Nelson's Dockyard or other destinations that aren't near the port.

Suggest you print out this official list of taxi rates, because in reality, drivers want to negotiate. If you're going from, say Stingray City, to Nelson's Dockyard, there's no stated fare: http://www.antigua-barbuda.org/Official%20Taxi%20Fares%20%20Dec%201%20%202005.pdf