Stingray City
7/26/2006 10:14:01 AM by Noah Chanin // Divers Direct
THIS CITY MAY NOT HAVE BUILDINGS OR HIGHWAYS, BUT THE INHABITANTS DON’T SEEM TO MIND. THEY’RE TOO BUSY SLURPING UP SQUID TO CARE.
Photos by Stephen Frink
I’ll be the first to say that the Caymans are a premier family destination — and I’m not just talking about human familes. You see, the waters just off the island host a stingray family of 40 or so that show up every day to claim handouts in the form of sliced-up squid.
It was a clear afternoon with just the right mix of breeze and sun when the Frink family and I arrived at Stingray City. Daughter Lexy calls down from the fly bridge, “There they are! Stingrays!” She points to the dark silhouettes sailing slowly through the water like clouds move through the sky. She scrambles down the ladder, and instantly suits up in her rash guard, mask around her head, fins in hand. Her father, Stephen Frink, looks as pleased as his daughter.
By the time the captain anchors, the entire family, each with their own camera in hand, is standing on the swim platform waiting for the “OK” to jump in. Next thing we know, the entire crew is in the water. “There’s just something about stingrays,” Frink says, “they bring out the ‘kid’ in people.” Contrary to their namesake and common misconceptions, stingrays are not a threat to humans. They get their name from a small, razor-sharp barb on their tail which they use as defense from predators.
Though not impossible, it’s extremely difficult for a human to get stung while handling them, short of reaching out and trying to grab the ray by its stinger. Not convinced? Consider that they don’t even have teeth (at least not conventional teeth) at the front of their mouth. Up close, rays feel soft and slimy, kind of like a wet bar of soap. They’re not afraid of humans, and eagerly brush up waiting for their next dose of squid. Lexy discovers that the rays are easily enticed with a rub of their belly, or stroke between the eyes.
Once the guide, Dan, jumps in with his stock of squid, even more rays converge on the area. We go from being the new kids in the ocean to the popular crowd. Dan tells us that Stingray City was actually created in the early 1900s when fishermen would anchor in the flats to clean their catch. Naturally, the little pieces of bait and fish fillets were a welcomed snack. A century later, the dive and snorkel operators have kept the tradition going.
On Sandbar, where we were snorkeling, depths range from three to ten feet. Stingray City is a little deeper, eighteen feet at the most. Other places have tried to create their own Stingray City, but as far as I’ve been able to find, this is the best natural, open water encounter anywhere. Even small children can enjoy the magical interaction. And as Stephen Frink, his wife, and our production crew showed us, adults will be equally entertained. Our guide, who’s been visiting every day for years, never tires of the scene. “You can’t visit Grand Cayman and not experience this,” he says with his first serious facial expression of the day.
quicksplash
Stingrays’ eyes are on top of their body, whereas their mouth is on the bottom. This means they cannot see their prey. Fortunately, their keen sense of smell and electro-receptors allow them to sense their food in other ways. Their primary diet consists of mollusks and crustaceans.