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[quote=Anonymous]Snorkeling out in the reef (during a boat tour) was extraordinary -- and frankly, better than the stingray part.

I liked the open water snorkeling so much, that I booked a second excursion with another tour provider on the same trip.  It was eye-opening -- the difference between the two.

The first excursion was with Stingray Sailing.  They took us to a snorkel spot that was teaming with tropical fish and color and even stingrays that we weren't expecting to encounter at that point.  It was gorgeous.  When they took us to the stingray interaction spot, they were very respectful of the stingrays and taught us how to feed them and to let the stingrays move around us.

Until I went on my second excursion with Captain Marvin's , I didn't realize that there was a difference in how tour operators operate.  The second excursion was basically the same thing as the first... but, the snorkeling spot was nothing near as good as the first (Stingray Sailing).  Even more important, the way the Captainn Marvin's staff manhandled the stingrays made me uncomfortable supporting their company.  The staff were essentially picking up the stingrays and holding them up against the customers for pictures, one after another in a line.  This was completely different than the way that the Stingray Sailing staff taught us to interact with the stingrays.

I rejected the line for photos and just snorkeled among the rays -- which was lovely.   Clearly the Capn Marvin's staff were expected to get the photos so they could make more profit off of selling the photos to the customers.  The Stingray Sailing guys were use your own camera to take pictures (so no profit for them), and the stingrays were stay in the water around you.  They did not lift the rays out of the water and force them to kiss you or be on your back.  It was just "ick" the way they were used as props in the second excursion.

The Capn Marvin's boat was fancier than the Stingray Sailing boat.  But, the experience of snorkeling and stingrays was better with Stingray Sailing.

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