Today I went to Stingray city, a natural sandbar on the North side of the island where Stingrays curiously interact with us humankind. The area was once frequently fished, and the rays learned to hover near fishing boats and wait for scraps to be tossed into the ocean. The local fishermen would hand feed them fish scraps, and now the rays happily interact with people in the sandbar. A classic example of Operant Conditioning, the rays now flock to people the moment they get off boats and try to sniff out treats. Many people bring along squid to feed them, and once you do, you'll quickly find yourself with 7 or more rays waving their fins on your limbs. The one I am handling in this video was so calm and docile, he could have easily been a pet! A different ray, however, mistook my forearm for a fish and tried to suckle my arm leaving me with a hickey. I never thought I'd say I was given a hickey by a Stingray, but here we are. What a remarkable day. This one goes down in my history thus far as one of the greatest, most definitely. The video quality is far from great, but it still makes me smile from ear to ear to watch.
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We did the same thing on a cruise once. It is amazing! Good luck with your hunt for sea turtles!
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