Stingray City and Sandbar
5/24/03
Journal excerpt - 5PM
I honestly can’t see how things could gone a whole lot better than they did today, which is something that I seem to be saying almost every day now. The Cayman Islands have already grossly exceeded my expectations. Dave and I woke up early today at around 7:30AM and drove to the west of the island to go on a trip to famed snorkeling point: Stingray City.
The roads were sparsely populated at that time of the morning and we encountered little traffic our entire way. Driving has become easier now that I have begun to get a little more experience. I used to approach a circle with hesitance, but it has become like second nature except for the odd signs. When nearing an intersection, the sign usually says, ”Give way” instead of “yield,” which is a not-so-subtle reminder that I’m in a British colony. There are actually an entire host of British-speaking folk here, and British customs, and a British mindset. I actually have grown to like it.
The boat was docked in West Bay, which is adjacent Seven Mile Beach, where I thought I would be spending nearly all of my vacation. I chose the Turtle Nest Inn, because it had all of the things that Seven Mile didn’t have, and was within striking distance of driving to Seven Mile Beach if I found that I couldn’t live without it. However, I have found that while the sand at Seven Mile is pleasant and first rate, it isn’t at all private enough to justify the trade-off. Consequently, I have only been there once thus far this week, and don’t plan on spending terribly much time there in the next six days.
West Bay is surrounded by a decent amount of lush vegetation, which there is not much of on this island. On the way into the compound David said, “isn’t it neat how these palm trees grow in a equal spaced row beside the road like that?” I’m going to assume and hope that he was joking.
After arriving at the marina and following Fred & Shannon to the boat, we met Captain Dexter who would be our guide for the next three or so hours. The captain was about as stereotypical of a seafaring man as one will find, like someone who stepped out of a television show or ole’ naval tale. He was unshaven with a open-front shirt, medium-sized gut with white hairy chest, and a popeye-style smirk and burly wit. He seemed to step out of the Jimmy Buffet song that says, “now that I’m old, I don’t wear underwear, I don’t go to church and I don’t cut my hair.”
As we began departing the dock, I found myself singing the theme from Gilligan’s Island, which amused several on-board passengers as we began our three-hour tour, our three-hour tour. The boat we were on was an oversized catamaran with a small covering in case of rain. It didn’t really look like much of a vessel, but it turned out to be more than sufficient for the task at hand. We churned out in the open waters for about 30 minutes and eventually arrived at Stingray Sandbar.
Stingray City actually
comprises two places, the city as well as the nearby sandbar. The sandbar is
the better of the two locations, with the water not above the mid-chest, and
many more stingrays than in the nearby city. How one describes Stingray City is
well beyond me. It’s a “once in a lifetime” kind of place, one that you visit
and truly pray that your photos and videos turn out, for fear that no one back
home will believe your story. Dozens of gigantic stingrays glide gracefully
through the water, ungelating gracefully in the calm open waters. As one tour
book describes, “divers may experience the almost balletic grace of these
extraordinary creatures as they glide among us comparatively awkward mortals . .
.”
As our boat arrived at the
sandbar, it seemed as if an understood dinner bell was rung, and the stingrays
began to silently congregate from all sides. I recall a distinct and notable
hush in the air as the captain gave his instructions and advice, and these
gentle, giant creatures patiently circled the boat in silence. The concept of
Stingray City has been in place for many years as fisherman routinely came to
the same sandbar area to clean the daily catch. Stingrays, hoping for an easy
meal or two, have been frequenting the waters ever since, as well as schools of
larger fish up to a foot or two in length.
The stingray is a mostly
docile creature, unless you step on one, in which case they pack a real stinger
of a zap. Their long tails can attack with a shot that will likely send one to
the emergency room, but will not cause serious injury. My guidebook says there
has never been a reported serious injury at Stingray City, but that doesn’t
instill confidence when you first arrive.
It doesn’t take long for the stingrays to interact with you once you are in the water and at times there can be three and four of them rubbing up against you at once. Captain Dexter gave out one bag of squid that we each passed around to feed the rays. When I had the bag and headed off to a place a short way away from the others, it only took a couple seconds before about 3 or 4 huge rays were all over me. I laughed and commented, “It doesn’t take them long to figure out who has the bag of squid.”
I
was surprised at my boldness as I starred down one of these six foot giants,
even curiously massaging the head of one of them as it approached. They have the temperament
of large, lumbering elephants, slowly and gently
swimming in large circles. Although they have an almost domesticated and
pet-like gentleness, they can get more aggressive as they compete for food.
Several of them climbed right up on my back looking for food and one of them
knocked me a tad bit off-balance by coming right up my chest when I was holding
the squid by my chin. Although I never at any point felt scared of them. They
were like beautiful and graceful angels, flying gracefully all around me. They
exude an aura of grace and gentleness . . . and they really do ‘glide.’ It’s
something that you really have to experience to believe. . .it can’t really be
described.
Captain Dexter comes here
so frequently that he knows many of them by name. He calls one of them Betsy,
and he let me hold her for a minute or two. He said that most of them like to
be held, but that Betsy in particular responds well to it. Holding her was
really a neat experience as she was 4 or 5 feet wide and her skin was soft and
smooth. She was a large gal and I had to get my shoulders under the water to
get a good enough grip on her. Holding a live stingray and seeing and feeding
the others would have to qualify as one of the highlights of the trip thus far
and one of the most memorable experiences of my entire life.
David and I pausing for a Stingray photo-op
I could have stayed there all day, but all good things come to an end. Captain Dexter took us to another spot about five minutes away where there was excellent snorkeling. The water was very clear and was not choppy, which is normally my snorkeling downfall. We spent about fifteen minutes there before a nasty gall came through, which prompted Dexter to blow his whistle and call us back to the boat. After ten minutes or so, we were back in the water and this time we brought along some squid to attract fish. It worked very well and soon there were hundreds of fish around us. The fish will eat the food right out of your hand, and I learned to my surprise that if you are not careful, they will also eat your hand. It only took me one bite on the finger from a very sharp-toothed sushi friend to realize that feeding the fish in this way was not safe. He took quite a chunk out of my finger, but Captain Dexter put a bandage on it and I was back in the water in a couple minutes (this time without squid).
Dexter took some squid out to one particular reef where he was able to attract a dark brown moray eel that frequents a cave there. Once he got it out, I was able to feed the eel, observing from the captain that the “throw the food down and watch it sink” technique is superior to the “here is my finger that looks like a worm” technique. Feeding this intimidating creature was another fascinating experience. I really appreciated seeing it’s grace as it swam in its natural element, and it also made me hunger for Unagi.
We headed back to the
apartment after our excursion, traveling south down Seven Mile Beach. Along the
way, we passed by an incredible new construction project of the Ritz Carleton
advertising apartments in the “low twos.” Upon closer examination, we realized
that it wasn’t two hundred thousand, but two million. The mindset is a little
different down here.
After going to the supermarket, eating, taking a brief nap, etc. we had spent most of the rest of the day, which was fine by me. The morning’s excitement provided enough adventure to last me a while. I have determined that rest and relaxation is the theme for the evening and I’m embracing that theme with joy. I will soon be grabbing some dinner at a local haunt and then passing the time away before bedtime.
You may download my Grand Cayman 2003 screensavers at Webshots
