Grand Cayman was by far the best of the entire trip.  We went on the Stingray City Swim and Snorkel trip.  The boat took us about 45 minutes out into the ocean, we stopped near a cluster of other boats and told to put on our snorkel gear.  So we geared up and lined up to jump off the boat.  To our surprise, after jumping into the water, the ocean only reached up to our waist!  We’re literally standing in the middle of the ocean with no land in sight!!  Experiencing that was just kinda mindblowing. The tour guide then passed around a large bucket of chopped up squid and told us to take a few pieces in our hand and put it in the water. The moment we did that these large dark shadows started coming towards us.  It was the stingrays.  I had thought they would be small, but they were about 3 feet wide.  They don’t swim, instead they ‘glide’ through the water.  It was so cool to see a dozen or more of them all around us.They glided past us in search of the squid in our hands. When they find the hand with the squid, they glide up to you and suck out the squid from your fingers with their mouths located underneath their bodies.  To that effect it was like having a large dog jumping up on you. 

The stingrays are very soft, kinda like a wet mushroom.  They were also very gentle, but we were warned that if we step on them we’d get stung. With that warning everyone was a bit more careful where they walked since the stingrays have a habit of swimming under you just as you’re about to take a step.

A lot of the women would scream every time a stingray nudges up to them or try to swim underneath their feet.  A few kids got scared and started crying. But overall everyone was just amazed at these beautiful creatures. 

We had about 45 minutes with the stingrays, after that the spot was getting crowded with more and more tourists so we had to leave to make room for the newcomers.