Stingray City: As told by a Stingray.......
The following post is told by a stingray that resides at Stingray City in the North Sound of Grand Cayman.
Hey humans! I am the longest living stingray in the North Sound. My name is Frank. That's right. Frank the stingray. Pretty clever, huh? I'm here to tell you how Stingray City was created and what we think of it. I hope you enjoy my story and maybe someday you'll even come visit us. I mean..I won't be around much longer, but the rest of my friends and family will be.
We make our home in the North Sound of Grand Cayman, in the Caribbean Sea between West Bay and Rum Point. The shallow waters just south of the long reef are where we spend most of our time. It's kind of funny how we came to make this our home.
A few decades ago, we noticed fishermen would return from their fishing trips in the deep sea and park their boats right in the same area to clean all the fish. It became very easy for us to eat because this occurred daily. The fishermen had to make a living so they'd fish every morning. We began to recognize the sound of the motors and knew the fish guts were coming. You wouldn't believe how delicious the scraps of fish that you guys throw away are. What a waste! Oh well, your misfortune is our survival.
Snorkel tours used to come by this area because of the beautiful reef and coral gardens nearby. Ironically, they used to blow a horn to notify their guests to get back on the boat when they spotted one of us. Now they market us and make money off us. Do we get a cut of that cash? Nope. All we get is an occasional squid fed to us. Sometimes it sucks to be a stingray!
Once the locals realized we are completely harmless, they began swimming with us, petting us, feeding us, and we kind of loved the attention. It has been going on this way for over 20 years. A marriage made in stingray heaven.
Every day. 365 days a year. Like clockwork. From about 9:00 AM until 3:00 PM, we have constant activity. Boats and boats full of people come to visit. It's funny because we are so excited to see you people, but we often hear screams, tears, and terror. I guess we take some time to warm up to.
The waters are only waist deep so you don't even need a mask and snorkel if you don't want to. Oh and please, whatever you do, don't wear your big fins, or whatever you call them. It never fails that you step on us and those fins hurt! We pose for photos all day long. We give back massages. In exchange, you feed us squid and fish guts. It's a win-win for all of us.
I know our name scares some of you, but just beause we are called stingrays, it doesn't mean we sting. We don't really have a stinger, but rather a barb on our back. We never actively attack humans, but please don't step on the barb because that's our defense mechanism.
There are dozens of boat tours that you can book to come visit us when you come to Grand Cayman. We look forward to meeting all of you and always welcome return visitors. After all, Stingray City is probably the coolest thing in Grand Cayman, so don't miss out!
Well, that's all the time I have for blogging today. I hear the boat engines approaching, and I'm getting hungry. Until next time.............signing off.
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Fantastic post on Cayman Island!, not only it tempts one to go there but to live there for long long time. One of my cousins lives there, she has invited for me new year eve, certainly want to go there for a week time. I want to know about the best vegetarian cayman restaurants, any suggestion like this one http://www.yabsta.ky/searchresults/1/restaurants.
Posted by: Matthew Aaland | 12/29/2012 at 12:59 AM
Great story! Love the perspective. I haven't been to Grand Cayman or Stingray City yet but it's on my list. See in the near future Frank the Stingray!
Cheers.
Posted by: RumShopRyan | 02/13/2013 at 06:07 AM