Encounter with a Sting Ray

Ack, Don't you get stung?!

Don't be silly, no one ever gets stung...well, that's not entirely true. Some folks have been stung, but it is a rare event. People usually get stung when they step on a Sting Ray. I don't blame them, it's probably hurts a bit :-(

About all you need to wory about is whether or not you get a Sting Ray Hicky. They have no teeth, rather they have grinding plates. If your skin gets sucked up into the mouth, you can get a nice hickey. I haven't received one, but I must say that the Sting Rays did try to eat my Lycra suit! They didn't like it very much and gave it back!

What do they eat?

Glad you asked. I'm no expert, but they appear to really like squid. A dive master will hand you squid pieces. You place them in your hand and make a fist. Wave your hand back and forth to get the attention of the Sting Ray, and, Viola, you have an instant friend. The Sting Ray can smell quite well, but the nose and mouth are on the bottom, not the top, of the Sting Ray. So, once they've come by and are sniffing your fist, just move your fist around making sure it stays below the Ray toward the front. It's like a three-dimensional joystick! Move up and the Ray moves up, Left and the Ray goes left, etc. Heck, you can swim to the surface and they'll follow you. The one in the picture is tasting my hair, but, like my lycra suit, it isn't interested. It'll come back around to try and get the squid.

One word of warning about getting the squid from the dive master. Do NOT let the little scavenger fish see the squid. Thus, you need to hand-off the squid as if you're bribing a politician. Nice and smooth, don't let the scavenger fish see it happen! To put this another way, treat the scavenger fish as if they're, oh, say a "journalist" from the National Enquirer! You understand now, right?