Our round-up of the best of the best:
Graceful, gliding, gigantic yet manta rays are an awe-inspiring sight to behold, and getting up close to these harmless filter feeders in a once-in-a-lifetime experience worthy of any travel bucket list.
Traditionally less appealing due a potentially deadly sting, (friendly) stingray encounters offer a more accessible opportunity to get up close to these bewitching fish, in just a few feet of water.
Here’s our round-up of the best places in the world to swim with them.
Cocos Island, Puntarenas Province, Costa Rica
550km off the Costa Rican coast, Cocos Island is a world-class dive site famous for huge congregations of rays which converge in the swirling currents welling up from deep water. Access is on 11-day live-aboard dive trips, from December to May, departing from Puntarenas.
Best for ages: 18+ | £1,500 | 3 hours
Cocos Island, Puntarenas Province, Costa Rica
Just of Hawaii’s coast at Kona, is a manta ray ‘feeding station’, rich in plankton, that’s home to resident population of over 240 individuals. Snorkel (5+ years) and/or dive (15+ years) tours run daily, year-round from Kona – but uniquely at night. Tour operators shine lights that attract plankton, and manta rays, to the surface.
Best for ages: 18+ | £1,500 | 3 hours
Hanifaru Bay, Maldives
Hanifaru Bay, a huge lagoon on the Baa Atoll Hanifaru in the Maldives, has become renowned as a global manta ray hotspot. Mantas gather here in their hundreds, along for feeding frenzy on blooming plankton blooms from June to October. 3-hour snorkelling tours depart from Baa Atoll. Note – diving is banned.
Best for ages: 13+ | £200 | 2-3 hours
Bimini, Bahamas
Honeymoon Harbour on the small islet of Gun Cay is home to a friendly population of southern stingrays. In exchange for fish morsels, the rays will obligingly congregate and interact with you, in the shallows just offshore or from the back of the tour boat. Half-day tours, for all ages, depart twice daily from Bimini.
Best for ages: 10+ | £80 | Half day
George Town, Grand Cayman, United Kingdom (UK)
This shallow sandbar, nicknamed ‘Stingray City’, was for years a dumping ground for the unwanted catch of local fishermen. Stingrays now congregate here in their hundreds, associating boats with an easy meal. You can hold them, even tickle them, standing in just three feet of water. 3-hour tours, for all ages, depart year-round, weather permitting.
Best for ages: 5+ | £35 | 3 hours
