AND STING RAYS TOO

                                                Swimming With Sting Rays

            When I first mentioned swimming with the sting rays in the Bahamas, my granddaughter wrinkled up her nose---until she saw the slick colored brochure in the hotel travel office. She questioned, “Wasn’t it a sting ray that killed Steve Irwin?”

            The agent responded, “Oh that was such a terrible freak accident. But as you can read here for safety all these rays have had their stinging barb removed.”

Feeding the rays

A couple of days later we took the local jitney (small bus) down town. After enjoying a delightful lunch on the waterfront restaurant, we wandered over to the catamaran docked behind the straw market which would take us to Blackbeard Island.

It was about a half hour ride on a gorgeous warm sunny day. Sandals Resorts own half of this island, but the other half is the ray sanctuary. This lagoon contained some flat rocks and when you stepped off you suddenly sank another 6-8 inches.

            There were about 30 rays and some of them were huge. They swam all around often brushing my legs. Rays generally are gentle creatures. When it came time to feed and hold them, I told my granddaughter, “I’m going to get out of the water and go up on the deck to take pictures. I do not trust my footing in the water with a camera.”

            For the feeding those in the water formed two rows so the rays had a path to swim through. Those who wanted to feed were given several pieces of squid.

            My granddaughter exclaimed, “Grandma, they just sucked the squid out of my hand. It was such fun!”

            Afterward a few people wanted to hold an animal. Some were more successful than others, and my granddaughter was one of those who managed to grasp one but it was really big to lift far out of the water.

            Bordering  the sanctuary is a gorgeous powdery white sandy beach  for swimming. It was a delightful afternoon.

SWIMMING WITH DOLPHINS

                   
                A Fun Swim

One of the reasons my granddaughter chose a trip to The Bahamas  for her graduation present was because she wanted to swim with dolphins in the wild. After arrival I made sure that swim was booked for the next day.

It was a 25 minute boat ride to a private island dolphin sanctuary. On arrival a safety and dolphin briefing was mandatory with the emphasis on safety. The sanctuary maintains a pod of 28 animals, and later on the floating dock the trainers told us how they train them. We swam with two females which they said are easier to train. A life jacket was mandatory for everyone getting in the water. Mine was a bit too big and although the straps were tight it wanted to float up around my ears.

In the water we were instructed to form a straight line about 20-feet away from the dock. As the  dolphins swam by  we could stroke and pet them being careful to stay away from their heads.

            After that we worked in pairs. We all received a dolphin kiss. For a hug we were instructed to open our arms wide and let the dolphin come to us. Once the dolphin put his dorsal fins around us we could gently hug her back.

            At one point the dolphin brought each of us food which we took and submerged to prevent the persistent sea gulls from snatching  on a quick dive. Then the dolphins returned to the trainers and on command returned to us to be  fed. It was remarkable how gentle they were.

            To dance we gently tapped the water with our hands which was their signal. The dolphins approached, stood on their flukes so we could take her dorsal fins and dance.

Being pushed by the dolphins

            For the ride we were instructed to float on our stomachs and flex our feet downward. The dolphins approached, nosed up to our feet and swam like crazy across the lagoon to a white flag mounted on the far rocks. They swim so fast that one is propelled out of the water from thighs up. Even though my glasses were strapped to my head, I decided this was a bit more activity than I wanted to indulge in, so I let the young one take a second turn.

            What a fun afternoon! We were both a bit disappointed that we couldn’t freely swim around the lagoon with the dolphins. The crystal clear turquoise water was warm. This experience was a bit different than when I swam with Peta, a wild dolphin in Belize.

            The afternoon was pricy which as a tourist one expects, but I did object to having over an hour to shop in the small gift shop as there was nothing else to do.There were only eight of us swimming with the dolphins so we were not in the water as long as we would have been if there had been 20 of us. We could have better used that hour back in Nassau.