Sting Ray City

Bob and I went an area of the bay with a sandbar that is called Sting Ray City. Sting rays like to congregate there because the shallow water keeps them safe from predators and people feed them. In the water below you can see the sandbar and all of the black dots are sting rays. 

In this picture I am standing in the water with a few sting rays swimming around me. Don't worry, they have only one very short barb on their tail and these sting rays are very used to people being around. We weren't even feeding them at this point and they still came close. It was fun just to pet them, they are very smooth. 
Bob loves this photo, he is holding the sting ray and I am squinting because it was splashing me. 
Here I am trying to give the sting ray a kiss. The large black sting rays are the females and the smaller grey sting rays (like the one behind me) are the males. The males stayed mostly on the ocean floor. You have to be very careful when you are in the water not to step on them. You have to keep your feet either planted in the sand and if you want to walk you need to shuffle in the sand. Apparently they are easily injured. 
We went to sting ray city on a boat chartered by one of Bob's work friends. It doesn't take very long to get out there and the water is pretty calm, making it an easy boat ride. I can't wait to go again. I just don't think that swimming with sting rays will ever get old!