Have you ever wanted to snorkel with a stingray? You have a chance to at Castaway Cay! That is, of course, after you feed them. Yes, you can feed a stingray. This is a fun family adventure for everyone ages five years old and up.
The entire experience takes about an hour from start to finish. You’ll begin with a safety briefing where they’ll tell you how to feed and touch the rays so that you won’t harm them. All the stingrays are carefully manicured so their barbs are kept at a safe level to not harm any human visitors, so you don’t need to worry about the sting part of their name.
The instructions are extremely simple and involve holding your hand out flat over black Mickey heads in the feeding area. All the rays are used to humans and know where to come for their meals.
After everyone gets a chance to feed the sting rays and their buckets of food have been emptied, it’s time for your snorkeling adventure to begin. Ours lasted around fifteen to twenty minutes.
I’ve heard conflicting reports about whether or not the stingrays stuck around for this portion. We had fun with the rays swimming around our feet and then allowing us to swim with and touch them in the water, but some say the rays tend to head towards the deeper, further waters of the lagoon. I’m sure all of this may depend on feeding time, their mood, and possibly even the weather and water conditions.
The experience runs consistently throughout the day at Castaway Cay, but it does book up fast as it is extremely limited. You’ll also want to consider when you’re planning to have lunch. While lunch on Castaway Cay runs 11:30am to 2pm, well more than an hour, our family at least would have enjoyed this excursion a lot less with hungry kids in addition to hungry sting rays!
As a travel agent, I’m often asked time and again if an excursion is worth it. Our now older teens did this particular activity as pre-teens and still talk about the experience fondly years later. For our family, it most assuredly was. While the adventure allows anyone age five and up, I do think it is more geared and better suited towards later elementary and up in order for everyone to enjoy it to its fullest.
Overall, this excursion is still one of my favorites that Castaway Cay has to offer. It’s a unique and fun adventure you’ll be talking about for years to come!
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