Me and a huge stingray in Mexico, Jan. 24, 2014

[Barb]

Just 3 days ago I was in the ocean on a stingray shore excursion off our ship.  Here I am with a huge female stingray named Ruby, and a handsome young Mexican man in Cozumel Mexico.  They have the tips of their stinging barbs clipped off, no danger to us, and all the rays wanted anyway was the long strips of squid we were given to feed them.  They sucked the strips right out of our hands within a split second.  The females were about 3-4' across, males about 2'.  They live 40-50 yrs!  This one is about 25 they said. She weighed over 200 lbs.  25 rays are kept captive in a large enclosure off the beach and if a hurricane threatens they are all released.  But they come right back when things settle down.  They love their free squid meals from all us tourists every day of the year.  It was really fun, I declined the snorkeling afterwards that they offered us.
Barb

[Mugwump]

Whoa...that's a nice sized one there....it really sounds like a great trip....tell us more...more pics too, please..

[ilroost]

Very cool

[PaulineMi]

That is very cool Barb.  Glad you had such a fun experience.

[shatanka]

Gosh, what a great experience and it sounds like an awesome trip! I am jealous! lol I have gone to Seaworld and fed the rays in a tank there. I know what you mean about them "slurping" the squid from your hand. Kind of a freaky, and daunting experience at first ? But you get the hang of it and it's fun! I can only imagine this fun you had right in there with them! WOW. Take me with you next time you go, will ya? lol

[Ron Sower]

Hey! That baby is way to big for any of my aquaria!  That had to be fun!

[wiggs]

Hey, Barb, Looks like lots of fun,cute guy---I mean stingray. 

[Barb]

Thanks for your nice comments everybody!  It was an especially great experience for me because I am a volunteer at our local aquarium at the beach, and I work with the stingrays there, showing them to the visitors and letting them touch the rays carefully.  But those are babies, less than 18" across.  So, getting to see and touch a 4' wide ray was really special.  She was pregnant and was to have 2 babies any day they told us.  The babies are about 10" when born.
Barb