Vacation Pics-Stingray City

Was not quite sure where to post these because they dont really fit any specific category. But this is Show and Tell, so here goes...

My wife and I celebrated our 10yr anniversary with a cruise. We stopped at Grand Cayman and got to go in the water with the stingrays. This had to be one of the coolest things I had ever experienced. We went with a private, family owned little charter we found online and we were happy we did. There was only eight of us on the boat and we had lots of time playing with the rays compared to the big companies that had 40-50 people on their boats.

Here is what it looks like when you get there. All these boats anchored around a sandbar where the water is only about 3-5ft deep. It was kind of freaky to see these large dark shapes coming toward you when you were in the water!
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I bought an underwater camera housing before I went (Best $20 on Amazon, I ever spent) so I was able to shoot in and under the water. You have to realize this pic was just me sticking the camera under water and shooting, the rays would brush by your legs as you were in the water.
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Here I got to hold the ray
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Our guide 'made us' kiss the rays - this shot had a sun spot/flare so it did not come out as well as i would have liked.
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Our guide dived down in this shallow area and brought up a live conch. (Later that day I had conch fritters! No, it was not this one. This guy got put back in the water!)
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As we were leaving we got another surprise, a dolphin came to check out the anchor of the boat. It was fascinated by the noise of it being pulled up and kept swimming around checking it out.
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So thats all I wanted to share, after all there is nothing worse than having to sit through another persons vacation pictures.

So any guesses what my new favorite thing is that I want in my aquarium? [You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

Snakes?

Looks like it was a blast. Soon I will be taking a nice vacation like that.

No snakes!

It was a blast, definitely one of the coolest things Ive ever done.

Amazing!!! that would definitely be a blast to do

Definitely looks fun!

So glad we went with the small family company we found on-line. The girls (my wife and her sister and two others on the trip) barely held the rays or did anything with them. So my brother in law and I got to play around and feed them quite a while. We easily had 15-20 minutes a piece of playtime with these guys while the crowded boats of 40-50 that showed up barely got to touch them. I guess you get what you pay for. Our trip was $75 per person and the others were $40. We also got free lunch in our package. I had fish an chips made from grouper, wow was that tasty. Also tried conch fritters, these were an extra we had to pay for but were fun to say we had. Nothing really special about them.

Our tour also included a bit of snorkeling, but I did not add those pics.... might just have to now.

Very cool, but I think I'd be afraid I'd end up like poor Steve Irwin and would have observed from the boat. The dolphin was a nice bonus.

That water is beautiful.

Very nice! That looks like a fun time for everyone!