One of the most popular diving (snorkling) spots in the Caribbean has got to be Stingray City, Grand Cayman.
It may be that stingrays began gathering in the area decades ago when fisherman returned from an excursion, navigated behind a reef into the sound, and cleaned their fish in the calm water of the shallows and sandbar area. The fish guts were thrown overboard and the stingrays eventually congregated to feast on the discarded guts. Soon the stingrays associated the sound of a boat engine with food. As this practice turned into a tradition, divers realized that the stingrays could be fed by hand.
So, nowadays loads of divers and snorklers get the chance to experience these gentle creatures (unless your name is Steve Irwin) and they make for a great photo-opp!
I must say I really enjoyed shooting here, even though I normally am not in favor of feeding fish for photos but it mostly seemed to be harmless for rays and people.
More photos from this trip here!
Canon 5D in a UK-GERMANY housing.
1/200 f/9 ISO125
1x Canon Speedlite 580 EX II (UK-GERMANY housing too).
November 9th 2009
