Stingray at GC & HMC

[maggiekoolcruiser]

Hello cruisers,

I see two possible excursions on my upcoming Caribbean cruise on Edam in a month for experiencing stingray. One in Grand cayman with 5 ships in port on that day and one at HMC with only our ship first day and another day with 2 ships that day in port. The question is for those who have done both stingray excursions : are they equally good or one is Better than the other ?

My thought is if they're equally good then I will definitely do it at HMC with less ships in port. I feel that I need to stay on the ship at GC and bypass the headache of tendering with 5 ships in port avoiding lines in & out of GC. Keep in mind, this is our first Caribbean cruise and we haven't seen stingray before.

If we end up doing it at GC, we like to use native sports as an Independent tour but then we don't get priority tendering. We heard the ship excur is too crowded.

Any comments are welcome & thank you so much for sharing :)

[Wakepatrol]

We've gone swimming with the stingrays in Grand Cayman Turks and Antigua.

 

I think the stingrays in HMC are in a closed off pen,where in Grand Cayman they are swimming freely.

 

I just got back from Grand Cayman the stingray city is an absolute zoo. There is 14 gazillion people there all trying to hold a stingray for pictures. I'd stick with HMC

Edited January 10, 2014 by Wakepatrol

[sambamama]

At HMC, the stingrays are in a small closed off area. I did not do the excursion, but walked over and looked at them. There were about 8 people in the water along with the guide.

[Krazy Kruizers]

With 5 ships in Grand Cayman, it will be mobbed.

We were fortunate years ago when we did the stingrays there, we only had 1 other ship there with us.

[midwest 852]

Grand Cayman stingray city/sand bar about 4ft. of water where the free rays swim around you. HAL's stingrays are in a pin.

5 ships in port all won't be a big deal. I like more people out there that way your not overwhelmed by the rays.

[GeorgesGal]

I've not done the one at HMC, but posters are correct: the stingrays are confined to a pen.

 

Years ago I booked from HAL while on-board a catamaran sail in Grand Cayman. We had about a dozen folks on board (capacity was 40), and guess where we went? Stingray City - it was buried in the description of the tour. What a pleasure to be in a small crowd compared to what appeared to be hundreds on a nearby ferry tour. We were pleased they stayed a distance away from our group, and we had a blast in the water with those gentle creatures. (Pet their skin - it feels like silk!)

[ZSandy25]

We had the opportunity to swim with the rays in GC, what a pleasure and as other poster stated their skin does feel like silk.

 

If you do go I would suggest you take the tour offered from your ship...a few year ago we took the HAL excursion for the afternoon swim with the rays. We had a beautiful sail a few miles out to where the sand bar is to interact with the rays.

 

It is quite a site to see the rays coming towards you as they know they are going to be feed. It is also a little frightful to see so many. We had a very informative guide and she got in the water first and we all followed and had a very cool time with the rays.

 

Now it is time to leave, the sun is setting, we are all in a very mellow mood on our sail back and we got caught on a sandbar. Our "captain" had to call ashore and have another boat come out to rescue us. As we waited we saw a beautiful sunset and then it was very dark and past the time for our ship to sail.

 

The other boat arrived attached a life line from one boat to the other. Our belongings and a few passengers boarded the other boat and sailed a distance out. Our only light was from a video camera a passenger had with him. He shined it in the water as we swam towards the rescue boat. Believe me when I say that is the only thing we could see. Thank goodness it was a calm night.

 

We donned life jackets and entered the water, the only thing I could think of was those stingrays!!:eek: I liked them when I could see them but prayed they were not swimming around us.

 

A few people ended up with abrasions and cuts on their feet from walking on coral, when I heard the first yelp I decided to swim holding the life line and not putting my feet down.

 

We did have a crew member from the ship on the excursion and he made us all feel safe and took charge of the situation. He assured us the ship would wait..

 

The ship was waiting, the captain was not to happy as we should have sailed over 3 hours earlier. Moral of the story, sometimes you are better with the ships excursion.

 

I did sail again to GC with DD and we did swim with the rays. This time I took the morning HAL excursion. Oh, and they did refund us our excursion $$.

[catl331]

I did the sting ray excursion at HMC in December awhile ago. The water was very cold and my grown, thin daughter was exceptionally cold and had to get out. There were about 8 of us and all in all it was very interesting feeding them and stroking them.

[maggiekoolcruiser]

Grand Cayman stingray city/sand bar about 4ft. of water where the free rays swim around you. HAL's stingrays are in a pin.

5 ships in port all won't be a big deal. I like more people out there that way your not overwhelmed by the rays.

 

Thanks all for your comments but I would rather be overwhelmed by the stingrays :)

[ithaca gal]

I did not do the HMC stingray experience because I wanted a more natural adventure. Swimming with confined creatures did not appeal to me.

 

We went on the excursion in GC -- there were a lot of boats out at "stingray City" but there were enough rays to go around!

 

My all time favorite excursion ever!

[HALrunner]

We have swam with the stingrays at GC a few times. The key is to go with a small independent operator. We typically charter a private boat in GC as it is always packed with cruise ships. If you arrive to Stingray City on a boat with 40 other people it will be crowded no matter how many ships are in port because you bring your own crowd! If you arrive on a private boat, he just drops anchor away from the big tour boats and voila! You have your own private stingray party- just your family and the captain!