PANAMA CITY BEACH — Visitors to Gulf World in Panama City Beach will soon have the opportunity to get up-close and personal with stingrays, and even small sharks.
"Stingray Bay" is currently under construction at the park, and will enable visitors to enter the water with several small shark and stingray species, including bonnethead sharks, bamboo sharks, southern stingrays and cow-nose stingrays.
Bonnethead and bamboo sharks are both smaller shark species and are not dangerous to humans.
--- VIDEO: PAM GEORGE TALKS ABOUT "STINGRAY BAY"»»
"You can actually get in the water and have them swim around you and feed them," said Gulf World general manager Pam George. "The water is about two-and-a-half feet deep, so you'll enter the water and kneel down and you can have the stingrays swim around you."
To prevent injuries, Gulf World will trim the barbs of each stingray in the tank, an action George compared to trimming a person's fingernails.
Those unwilling to enter the water with the sharks and stingrays will have the opportunity to feed and interact with them from the edge of the tank.
The new habitat is slated to open in the spring of 2015, just in time for the busy season. The tank will also feature a sandy bottom to imitate the ocean floor and is located inside in Gulf World's tropical gardens area.
"We're excited to be indoors, so you can come any time of year to do the interaction with the stingrays," George said.
The animal portion of Gulf World currently is closed, as it does for three weeks every year to allow for deep cleaning and maintenance projects. Stingray Bay is the largest project currently underway at the park, which reopens Dec. 26. The gift shop at the park remains open.
"We're looking forward to this," George said. "We're going to start out small ... to experiment and see which (species) we're going to cohabitate."