Central America
Belize
Belize Cayes
Ambergris Caye
Things to do in Ambergris Caye
Shark Ray Alley
See all things to do

Shark Ray Alley

See all things to do
See all things to do
Shark Ray Alley
4.5
About
Suggest edits to improve what we show.
Improve this listing
Tours & experiences
Explore different ways to experience this place.
Full view
What is Travellers’ Choice?
Tripadvisor gives a Travellers’ Choice award to accommodations, attractions and restaurants that consistently earn great reviews from travellers and are ranked within the top 10% of properties on Tripadvisor.
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
Top ways to experience Shark Ray Alley
See all
Detailed Reviews: Reviews order informed by descriptiveness of user-identified themes such as cleanliness, atmosphere, general tips and location information.
Popular mentions
We perform checks on reviews.
Tripadvisor’s approach to reviews
Before posting, each Tripadvisor review goes through an automated tracking system, which collects information, answering the following questions: how, what, where and when. If the system detects something that potentially contradicts our community guidelines, the review is not published.
When the system detects a problem, a review may be automatically rejected, sent to the reviewer for validation, or manually reviewed by our team of content specialists, who work 24/7 to maintain the quality of the reviews on our site.
Our team checks each review posted on the site disputed by our community as not meeting our community guidelines.
Learn more about our review moderation.
4.5
1,218 reviews
Excellent
924
Very good
205
Average
61
Poor
9
Terrible
19
Roman T
1 contribution
A magical ocean experience you shouldn't miss!
Dec 2022 • Friends
I received my advanced scuba diver certificate, open water, and rescue diver all from from one of their dive shops in Ambergris Caye and Caye Caulker. While hundreds of tourist have swum here among the nurse sharks and rays, there have been sightings of reef and bull sharks from reliable sources This is also home to some of the world's largest morey eels. Always have a healthy respect for the ocean wild and practice safety.

A commenter here wrote that you can find places like this all over... No you cannot! Having dived all around the world, I've
also backpacked to 62 countries, I guarantee you this is an extremely unique location you won't want to miss. Great food, cool lodgings, nice people, peaceful, yet nature is alive here with all sorts of recreation. Really ... don't miss it!
Written 11 November 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Eat, drink and travel
Homer, AK507 contributions
Beautiful waters and gorgeous nurse sharks
Oct 2023 • Couples
The nurse sharks and rays, docile in fact, follow the sounds of the boat motor as it's prepping to anchor at one of the designated 'parking spots'. They've learned that the soft sound of gentle boat motor equates to snack time. With clear and warm water, snorkeling was easy and see these beautiful nurse sharks and rays was great.
Written 16 October 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
TRAVELHAIR
Philadelphia, PA303 contributions
Swimming with the sharks
Aug 2023 • Couples
The experiences was one-of-a-kind. We saw so many sharks. My husband actually swam with them. I was too scared. Lol they were harmless though.
Written 18 August 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
GeneralShamu
New York City, NY1,058 contributions
Midday Visit
Jun 2023 • Couples
These creatures are so placid and don’t really are about humans (they eat fish such as anchovies). It’s really quite mesmerizing to get up and close to them and see it all with your very own eyes. A must while staying on the islands.
Written 28 June 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
tws1086
Detroit, MI274 contributions
OK-Nothing Special
Mar 2023
You will likely visit Shark Ray Alley as part of the Hol Chan Marine Park snorkeling tour. Sure, a handful of nurse sharks surround you when the boats through in the chum but we actually saw just as many sharks while we were in Hol Chan so Shark Ray Alley was really not a different or better experience.
Written 18 March 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
jdd43
Arlington, TX46 contributions
Great experience mediocre tour company.
Feb 2023 • Friends
I am reading this specific experience not the tour operator. As soon as the boat pulls up the rays and the nurse sharks come to the boat. The sharks are literally on top of each other. Unlike other experiences here you get to touch them. And the rays will definitely touch you. This is not like in the Grand Caymans were they actually put the stingrays on you at least not on our trip. But there are more than I've ever seen in one place same thing with the nurse sharks. I don't even know the name of the tour company that we used. Unfortunately it's a fairly long ride out to the experience. They told us a lot of different things because of the wind and we didn't get to go to the reef. Completely understandable. That gave us more times with the rays and the sharks and the beach. Unfortunately there is no beach at the beach. Just a small island we're first they dropped us off for us to order food to be ready when we came back. The food was reasonably priced and reasonably good but if they would have skipped that part we could have just gone back to the ship. They told us several different things after we were on the boat that did not happen. The only reason we went was for the stingrays and the nurse sharks. The restaurant service was extremely slow for having been pre-ordered, it's quite possible they had to go get the food from another place before they could prepare it I don't know. After the food being so slow to get to us we didn't have a chance to explore the small developed island. I would do the experience again but try to find someone who only did the stingrays and the sharks. There is not a lot of things that you can do on a cruise ship in Belize this is probably the best. It's definitely the best that I have done.
Written 23 February 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
RainSeattleMom
Issaquah, WA490 contributions
Fascinating but perhaps unethical
Dec 2022
We wanted to snorkel at Hol Chan Marine Reserve, and Shark Alley was the second stop of our snorkel tour. I would have rather skipped it for two reasons. First, my daughter wasn't interested and didn't get into the water. Second, I'm very torn about the pros and cons of provisioning nurse sharks (feeding them to lure them to the boats). However, it was very fascinating and not something that I do every day so I can't say I didn't find it interesting. The sharks are very beautiful.
Written 30 January 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Amanda Kerr
Blackfalds, Canada224 contributions
Amazing snorkeling experience!
Jan 2023
I've done a bit of snorkeling before and absolutely loved this experience. The stingrays and nurse sharks come right up to your boat. The water is fairly shallow, so most people can stand up in the water. A very cool activity to do for a couple hours. It doesn't take long to boat here. Highly recommend.
Written 21 January 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Jay S
9 contributions
Unique experience worth doing once
Jan 2023 • Couples
I would recommend this experience to anyone who hasn't done it but you probably don't need to repeat it. That said, if you have kids this really is a great experience with nature up-close. Besides, they can tell their friends they swam with sharks!
Written 21 January 2023
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
Wade
11 contributions
Interesting but ecologically harmful
Dec 2022
The experience here varies dramatically depending on whether the sharks are being fed or not. If they're not, you'll just see a handful of Nurse Sharks waiting around for the chum boats. If they are being fed, you'll see upwards of fifty Nurse Sharks all begging for & fighting over food.

You can easily see Nurse Sharks at almost any dive spot on the reef east of San Pedro. So you don't need to go here for them. And the ones you see elsewhere will be exhibiting more natural behaviour (which can include following you around curiously, even swimming right up to you - whereas the ones at Shark Ray Alley largely ignore you because they're focused on the boats & potential feedings).

The practice of feeding the sharks, or chumming the waters, is unethical. It certainly creates quite a spectacle, but it's unhealthy for the sharks and encourages dangerous behaviour (which may ultimately result in attacks against humans, if it hasn't already). I strongly urge you to choose a tour operator that does not do these things. (even if your operator doesn't, others might in the same area while you're there, and either way you'll still see plenty of Nurse Sharks)

If it weren't for decades of feeding sharks here, there'd be none present. There's practically no living reef in the area; there's no natural reason for the sharks to congregate here. It's purely an artificial construct for the tourist industry.

You might also see Stingrays, though they're much less common, or at least in far fewer numbers. I saw only one, only on one of my two visits. You're more likely to see them at Turtle Gardens (along with Eagle Rays, and turtles, obviously).
Written 11 December 2022
This review is the subjective opinion of a Tripadvisor member and not of Tripadvisor LLC. Tripadvisor performs checks on reviews as part of our industry-leading trust & safety standards. Read our transparency report to learn more.
2
…
Showing results 1-10 of 1,170
Revenue impacts the experiences featured on this page, learn more.
Is this your Tripadvisor listing?
Own or manage this property? Claim your listing for free to respond to reviews, update your profile and much more.
Claim your listing

SHARK RAY ALLEY: All You Need to Know BEFORE You Go (with Photos)

Frequently Asked Questions about Shark Ray Alley