Parking Your Sting Ray, Turks and Caicos, Feb. 16, 2012

If it is going to be your last time snorkelling Smith's Reef it should be a good one. The reef did not disappoint today. We had been in the water for some time when a sting ray came in to view and settled next to a coral section. Before long it was on its way and we took chase. I was getting pretty tired but kept up with Ian and the sting ray. Then the size of the ray came in to perspective. It was a good size ray but laying almost hidden in the sand was a much larger one. The ray we were chasing nuzzled the face of the larger one which barely flinched. Then the smaller one proceeded to park itself along side the other. It was quite fascinating and Ian was able to capture it on film.
Ian dove down a few times to see if he could get them to swim together but these two were settled in and did not want to be disturbed. Checking on the surface I could see that there were no people left on the beach and the sun was setting. As much as we enjoyed seeing the rays it was time to go. We have had such a wonderful experience at Smith's Reef.