Travelbriefs

It may have a reputation as a tax haven, but Grand Cayman also harbours sun, sand - and the world's friendliest stingrays, writes Isabel Conway.

In the water in Stingray City.

Nothing quite prepares you for puckering up to kiss a stingray. An ominous dark shadow with pale goat-like eyes and a poisonous barb identical to the one which killed crocodile hunter' Steve Irwin has sidled up for a smooch and a cuddle on a sandbar off Grand Cayman.

As foreign travel encounters go, this interaction with Cayman's biggest attraction - dozens of friendly giant stingrays milling around us in the turquoise waist-high waters ...