Stingray City

Stingray City is one of the most famous dive sites in the world, located on a shallow sandbar inside Grand Cayman's North Sound where southern stingrays (Hypanus americanus) congregate in numbers to interact with divers. The site is a flat, open patch of pure white sand in roughly 3 to 4 metres of water, surrounded by turtle grass beds and shallow coral patches. The stingray gathering tradition dates back to the 1980s, when local fishermen began cleaning their catch in the lee of the North Sound shallows, and the resident stingrays learned to congregate at the spot for the discarded fish scraps. Today, Cayman dive operators continue limited controlled feeding under Department of Environment regulation, and divers can kneel on the sandy bottom while dozens of large stingrays — many with wingspans over a metre — glide and hover around them. Permitted handlers offer squid to attract the rays in close. Other resident wildlife includes nurse sharks, southern stingrays elsewhere on the bar, schoolmaster, sergeant majors, blue runners, and occasional eagle rays. The shallow depth, calm protected lagoon water and zero current make this a perfect beginner experience.