the wife and i paddle a quiet little cove that has plenty of sea life in our local area. at times it produces plenty of large stingrays ,i believe they are breading just because of the numbers in one spot. I've told my wife not to paddle directly over the rays as the water is very shallow and the rays might strike out at her if startled . after reading this old article I'm glad that i wasn't being over cautious with my advice.
I see lots at a spot I surf at least once a week but have never had any strike. They usually swim off once I get close to them...after reading that tho I'm gonna try n be a bit less casual about them!
Hi Cobra,Out at Flatrock,paddled thru a gutter then walked over a shallow bank,trod on something, turned out to be a ray.Finnished up in hospital with a barb in the top of the foot.its tail came over and got my foot.the pain is unbelievable and the swelling took days to go down.This was only a fairly small one,Look at Steve Irwin.Ballina not only has Sharks we got all sort of sea critters.My case was probably rare but becareful.
i see Rays quite often on the corramandel in NZ when I'm paddling in estuaries or surfing wavelets in shallow water. Mostly they just flap off and scare the bejesus out of me, but it really makes me nervous when I realise I've surfed right over one.
The biggest one i,ve seen was white and seemed about the size of a coffee table. It was cruising around in shallow water about 100 meters from where my kids go swimming. Very unsettling, although no real reason to be afraid i guess. Better than sharks!
i saw an orca on Monday about 500menters off the beach at Hot Water beach. He was just cursing along taking short dips. I started paddling towards him to get a better look, but then thought better of it as I was only on my speeed an didn't feel like taking in an orca encounter on something tippy. very unlikely to have got there in time anyway.
on stingrays again - is there any action to take if you have been barbed other than grovel to the beach, roll around in pain and hope someone helps you out?
Hey HBsups next time you see orcas ,tell them ,they are very welcome around the Byron to Evans head area ( north coast NSW) supposedly Great Whites are scared of them,latest count is we apparently have 7 Great Whites in residence??? As for an extremely rare ray barb,you need to get to a hospital as people can have adverse reactions eg breathing difficulties,the hospital hits you up with drugs and monitor you for a few hours.
I have a 2 inch long scar above my left ankle and reduced feeling on my skin on the inside of my foot from severed nerves. The bugger got to within a centimetre of the bone. Two things. Pouring as hot water as you can bear on the scar neutralises the venom. Debriding or cutting our the wound is often neccessary as the damaged tissue either side of the wound is difficult to knit back together and heal. I ended up off work for a month and undergoing surgery under a general anaesthetic so be careful with them buggers. To be fair to the fish, I bumbled into him in zero vis. I often see 'em paddling and from diving they're fairly relaxed critters. For gawd's sake don't jump onto one off your board tho!
I guess depends on the age of the person writing the article.. 
