Day 2:
We woke up early for the morning trip out to stingray city. I would like to thank @CS91 for suggesting using captain marvin's; they were very accommodating with the baby. We were picked up in a Toyota Coaster van; we had our own van because we were the only ones going on the boat from a hotel as opposed to a cruise ship. For some reason they drove us to the store front just to sign a paper to check in; I think it was a ploy to get us to buy things from their gift shop. After signing in, we were off to the boat (literally went back towards the hotel.) We were the first ones on the boat. After 5 minutes, everyone from the cruise arrived. They were all so nice, I knew it wasn't a cruise that left from NY
they actually left from New Orleans. They were in Jamaica the day before and were going to be in Cozumel, Mexico the next day.
We made our way out to Stingray City; it was literally crowded with many people from many different boats, but our boat went to a nice area that wasn't so crowded. The water here was gorgeous, crystal clear. It was so cool feeding the sting rays and petting them. The guides from the boat were so nice, they even helped the baby pet a few sting ray. This experience was really cool. When we were in Atlantis back in 2013 we also fed Stingray, but that was a totally different experience:
Atlantis-About 100 sting ray in a salt water pool. They were all small. They surround you the whole time thinking that you have food. It was cool to feed them and touch them, but you don't have a second where the stingrays aren't surrounding you.
Stingray City-You are in the middle of the ocean where the water is beautiful. Stingray are around, not all over you like they were in Atlantis. Here they are in their natural environment. Stingrays here are all different sizes and not at all rough with you expecting you to feed them.
On our way back, we made a stop to snorkel. It was a lot of people's first time snorkeling, so random people would grab on to you because they just didn't know what they were doing. I was literally trying to swim to my own area to get good underwater pictures and teenagers would just grab on to my flipper or leg because they were scared. Anyway, it was a nice snorkel spot; not the best snorkeling that I've done, but it was nice. It was like a first time snorkelers spot. I liked this spot better than Cancun. The coral here was better than the Bahamas, but there weren't a lot of different species of fish here like there were in the Bahamas. I still think that Eilat was the best I have yet to experience.
It started to rain right as our boat was pulling back to the dock, literally perfect timing. We took our private van back to the hotel which was so close (could have taken a boat from the hotel to stingray city, good to know for anyone who will stay at the Holiday Inn). We went out for a little to pick up some ice cream from the supermarket. Then we went back to the hotel, swam in the pool for a little, and then we called it a day.
Pictures and day 3 to follow very soon.
