I guess we just like swimming with anything out here. Breaks the monotony, you know. Stingray City is a twenty minute dinghy ride from our anchorage. We wanted to get there early, before many of the tourist boats show up. We were told to bring sardines and wear sand shoes instead of flippers. I didn't know what to expect. I put on my little 3ml wetsuit for extra protection. On the ride over you have to stay in the channel inside the fringing reef all the way or you risk running into one of the thousands of coral heads out there. We rounded a corner and came upon a shallow sandy area and saw a boat stopped there with people in the water standing around. We dropped our little dinghy anchor in 5 feet of water and immediately saw 4 or 5 large stingrays circling in the water next to us. We were there with our mates on 'Southern Cross' and they knew what to do so I followed Vicki's lead. I opened the sardines, grabbed one and jumped in. These stingrays are maybe 3-4 feet across and from nose to end of tail maybe 6 feet. They are soft and rubbery and they come right up to you to be fed. It is so much fun and such an unexpected sensation...a full grown stingray fluttering UP YOU, trying to get close to you to get the food. I know, it's completely unnatural behaviour, they have been trained over the years getting fed by hand repeatedly...but I don't care...IT WAS SO MUCH FUN. Haven't giggled like that in a long time. After a while lots of smaller fish get the sense of food and gather around, then in come the sharks. Black tip reef sharks, 4 and 5 feet long circling around to. Other boats and dinghys show up and now it's a free for all! An experience we won't soon forget.