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Hotels, dive operators, gear, and how to get here are on the Stingray City location page.
Overview
A patch of white sand inside Grand Cayman's North Sound where dozens of southern stingrays patrol at around 12 feet. The rays began gathering here in the 1980s when fishermen cleaned their catch in the calm lagoon shallows — the population learned the sound of outboards and now reliably arrives at boat noise. The dive itself is technically trivial (no current, sand bottom, you kneel) but the encounter is the draw: three-to-four-foot wingspans gliding inches over your head, often in groups of twenty or more. A separate sandbar nearby in 3–5 feet handles the snorkel crowds.
Briefing note
The site sits within a designated Wildlife Interaction Zone managed by the Cayman Islands Department of Environment — only permitted operators can feed the rays, and feeding rules apply (squid only, no chasing, no lifting from the bottom). Touching is permitted on the flat top of the disc; avoid the tail barb. The 'proper' scuba site at ~12 ft is distinct from the adjacent sandbar (3–5 ft) used by cruise-ship snorkel tours, which is far more crowded. Ray numbers have dropped over the past two decades; mornings before the cruise boats arrive are the calmest. Hurricane season runs June–November with peak risk August–October.
What you'll see
4 species curated- year-roundSouthern stingray
- year-roundYellowtail snapper
- year-roundBar jack
- rareNurse shark
Sightings evidence
1 record on file- high confidenceSouthern stingray
- Last confirmed
- May 2026
- Recent records
- 130 within 10 km
Sources & methodology
How we summarise this
We aggregate confirmed occurrence records from GBIF and OBIS within a fixed radius of each dive site. Occurrence records confirm presence and reveal seasonality clustering, but they DO NOT measure per-dive probability — there is no eligible-effort denominator. We deliberately do not publish a numeric '% chance of sighting' from this data.
Sources
- Global Biodiversity Information Facility — GBIF Secretariat
- Ocean Biodiversity Information System — IOC-UNESCO
- OBIS-SEAMAP — Duke University Marine Geospatial Ecology Lab / OBIS
- iNaturalist — California Academy of Sciences & National Geographic Society
- IUCN Red List of Threatened Species — International Union for Conservation of Nature
- WoRMS — World Register of Marine Species — Flanders Marine Institute (VLIZ)
- FishBase — FishBase Consortium
- Atlas of Living Australia — CSIRO / GBIF Australia
- REEF Volunteer Fish Survey — Reef Environmental Education Foundation
Conditions
| Month | Water | Visibility | Current |
|---|---|---|---|
| Jan | 26–27 °C | 20–30 m | none |
| Feb | 26–27 °C | 20–30 m | none |
| Mar | 26–27 °C | 20–30 m | none |
| Apr | 27–28 °C | 20–30 m | none |
| May | 27–28 °C | 20–30 m | none |
| Jun | 28–29 °C | 15–25 m | none |
| Jul | 29–30 °C | 15–25 m | none |
| Aug | 29–30 °C | 15–25 m | none |
| Sep | 29–30 °C | 10–20 m | none |
| Oct | 28–29 °C | 15–25 m | none |
| Nov | 27–28 °C | 20–30 m | none |
| Dec | 26–27 °C | 20–30 m | none |
Season calendar
Peak season highlighted · current month outlined
Next step
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