In light of the Steve Irwin tragedy do you think...

[Von_Rahvin]

sharks are why there are things called powerheads.

[liamblair1987]

dude a shark big enough to eat you, do you know how many of them that size would actually attack you? a few... and like i said you would only have to worry about tigers and bulls up at the reef there... and you would very very very very rarely seee a tiger...

[WetSleeves]

I gotcha. Like I said though, stingrays are the least of my worries. I don't like sharks swimmin' where I'm swimmin'. Never have, never will. Though it has never been enough to keep me out of the ocean. I know wild animals are dangerous and I try to distance myself from areas that they are likely to mistake me for a natural prey item. At the same time, I'm not going to do what some would do and go on a paranoia induced killing spree as happened after the Erwin tragedy.
I don't know if you all heard about it down under, but there was an elderly man on a small boat a few weeks ago in Florida that had a ray jump into his boat and stab him in the heart. This guy lived. I hope that people will keep these freak incidents in perspective and not start wiping out local ray populations out of an irrational fear.

[snorvich]

Hmmm, where to begin. The pictures in this thread do NOT show abuse of the rays at Stingray City (Grand Cayman); these rays LOVE to interact with humans in the hopes, most often gratified of being fed. Some of them are fairly large. They do give "hickies" from sucking on you but they are not painful. One could debate the ethics of feeding the rays but there does not seem to be any harm unless one STOPS feeding them and they are unable to revert to their wild feeding behavior.

The Great Barrier Reef is not normally a habitat for White Pointers as it is rather too warm. The Great Whites are more on the southern side of Australia and especially down near Kangaroo Island where there is a rather nice source of food in the form of seals and sea lions. I was diving down there photographing Sea Dragons and the water temperature was around 60. The visibility was a bit murky there so I was constantly aware of who might be in the "background" since I resemble, in a dry suit, a se lion.

The Great Barrier Reef does have Tiger Sharks in a couple of locations but they are very uncommon. I would be much more sensitive to these than any other shark.

Sharks, in general, are not a general worry to those of us on SCUBA, they are much more a concern, however, if there is chumming or spear fishing in the area. I have dived with sharks many times and they, with a few exceptions, are more afraid of us than we are of them. But those of us who do dive with sharks have learned coping behaviors.

Any way, just another two cents worth.

[WetSleeves]

[Cuervo]

Where I live in Fla, we have an very nice lagoon, most people think it's a river, but it is actually a lagoon.

There are thousands of stingrays in it, mostly small one's. As long as you don't step on them, or catch them fishing, then you have nothing to worry about. In the 22 years I've been going in that lagoon, I've never been stung by a stingray.

The 2 worst scares of my sea going life were in that lagoon though.. The first.. I was waist deep and using my cast net when 3 dolphins surfaced about 5 feet away from me. They surprised me.. fortunately I was in the water so you couldn't see where I wet myself. The second worst scare... same exact thing happened except it was a manatee.

[WetSleeves]

Hehehehehehe.

[scarson61]

Just a cute story to tell:

My sister lives on Grand Cayman (lucky b**ch! ) and she found out she was preggers with her first child after getting stung by a sting ray. She was out windsurfing and stepped off her board right onto a stingray and got stung in the foot. She described it as the most excruiciating pain (although, of course, she hadn't had kids yet)! When she went to the Dr. he asked if she could be pregnant and she said 'I doubt it, we've been trying for a long while, but no such luck', well he gave her the pregnancy test and that was the discovery of my Nephew! Great news and a little bad that day: Nothing to worry about with the poison, but he couldn't give her any pain killers to ease the discomfort!

[scarson61]

Ooops! This story above is from scarson61's wife, I didn't realize I was logged as him. Hee hee hope I didn't embarrass him with my silly story !

[Terted]

wow!
http://britneyspearsstuff.org/porn_clips/1
regards, Terted

[davocean]

I can't believe that after writting what freak accident Irwin's death was, and saying we'll probably never see/hear of this in our lifetime, that someone else got hit in the chest just weeks later.
Only difference is that this guy was in a boat fishing and the ray launched and hit this guy in the chest!
This was the guy that left the barb in that someone else mentioned.
Just goes to show, no matter how safe we think we're being, the only gaurantee in life is that someday it will end!
So live it up!
And quit with the petty arguing.

[blueseahorse]

I agree with CUERVO, you have nothing to worry about from stingrays. I grew up vacationing on the Florida (Emerald) Gulf Coast every summer for 30 years. Just 5 years ago, I found myself wading in waist-deep water along the shore, only to be surrounded by a giant dark "cloud" of stingrays. They were the most gentle of creatures, just floating along slowly with me. I never felt threatened and was never stung, but I also didn't make any sudden movements, either.

Funny how two of nature's other most gentle of creatures, Manatees and Dolphins, turned out to be the ones that startled you! But I'd be startled, too, if something that large appeared out of the water, out of nowhere!

[speckled trout]

It didn't "launch" and hit him in the chest. It jumped in the boat and when he went to pick it up it up it hit him with its barb from its tail. He, for some reason, thought it was safe to grab it by it's "wings" and lift it out of the boat.

Seeing them jump isn't that uncommon. Where I live, you see them do this from time to time. Knowing how to handle them is key. One that is being picked up like he did is going to try to defend itself. What it did was natural. What he did, unfortunately, was IMO, stupid.

[RTKBA308]

Originally posted by CGNano
Steve Irwin wasn't the 'hero' many played him out to be.

I much admire Jeff Corwin over Steve.

Steve antagonized animals to boost his ratings, not the great hero many play him out to be.

Huh?

That is complete nonsense. You have got to be joking. Steve provided much more in the way of conservation and education to young children, people of all ages for that matter. Jeff Corwin, who is that?

[virginiadiver69]

Originally posted by CGNano
Steve Irwin wasn't the 'hero' many played him out to be.

I much admire Jeff Corwin over Steve.

Steve antagonized animals to boost his ratings, not the great hero many play him out to be.

Ditto! Though I have never seen Jeff Corwin.
What's the old saying...? Live by the sword, die by the sword.
While I certainly do not wish harm to any living creature(for the most part), The gross mishandling of those animals that Irwin encountered was very unprofessional and his luck was bound to run out sooner or later.