Sting ray Interaction at Seaworld San Antonio Aquatica

Remember How I shared about all the fun we had at Aquaticas first Birthday? (If you missed it you can check it out here) Well during that awesome day I won a Free Sting Ray Interaction for me and my kiddo! Yep, I know... wow! We picked a date and well we had so much fun during the interaction! We made lots of great memories from that day that I would love to share.  

Here's a glimpse of our Sting Ray Interaction at Aquatica:

We got there early to Aquatica and I was so nervous! I had seen others do the interaction from afar and have even had a couple of blogger friends do it so I had seen plenty of pictures before. But I don't think anything can prepare you for what you will feel when you actually do it. 

My munchkin who is 4 was going crazy waiting for it to start. He had been already touching them by the pools ledge. Its free to touch them from the ledge and you can even buy fish to feed them!

They get as close as possible to you when food is involved.

When it was now time to start the interaction we stepped on to the soft sand and we were told a couple of important safety rules. We walked over to the opening and stepped in to a new experience! 

You look out and you see stingrays and fish swimming around. For safety they have a life guard, But don't worry the water is not too deep even for a 4 yr old. And of course for all the guests safety the sting rays have all had there barbs trimmed. The nice employee who went in the water with us (who is also a school teacher) made us all feel safe and comfortable and ready for what we would experience. He even mentioned Mr Ray from Nemo for the kiddos in the group. 

We walked in (well actually scooted our feet on the pool floor so we wouldn't risk stepping on the sting rays) and the employees handed out fish so off we went to feed the sting rays! This was intense! They really come up against you. So much so that you can barely walk around them because you are so crowded by them. It takes a little while to get use to this feeling. But they will eventually move along to others and follow the food source. 

My munchkin did not like this feeling and pretty soon he was in my arms. Yep, Mr. Brave was not feeling so brave after all. I took him over back to sand where he would go back and forth from the edge of the water back to the sand. But he wouldn't let go of the fish he had been given. When asked why he wouldn't feed the fish to the stingrays he proudly told everyone "Fish are friends! Not food!". 

After a while and me telling him he couldn't take the fish home he started to feed the stingrays the best he could from the edge. 

Once the employees alerted us that our groups time was up it seemed to tell my son well now let me go back in the water. He walked back in and wouldn't leave now. Yep, there came the tears! 

But its ok. He cheered up soon and quickly shared with others his experience in the water with Stingrays. Plus we had pictures! So he made sure to show them off and how brave he was in the water. It was such a fun and unique experience that I will never forget. I mean really, how often do you have the chance to get in the water with a pool full of stingrays and feed them? 

Be sure to check out Aquatica on your next visit to Seaworld! And in case you missed some of our favorite Seaworld Trips be sure and check them out here:

Seaworld San Antonio Howl-O-Scream
Seaworld San Antonio Christmas Celebration
Seaworld San Antonio Wild Days! 
Imagination Movers at Seaworld San Antonio
Seaworld San Antonio's Aquatica