As kids, we were always told to shuffle our feet when we waded to find
bay scallops cuz this would scare the stingrays away. Every now and
then somebody would get hit by one but it was rare. My bro in law got
hit on the ankle one day and although it left a nasty gash the spine
didnt stay in. We poured really hot soapy water over it and them some
peroxide and it never got infected although it did leave a good scar.
Stingrays never scared me even when we snorlked right over the big
ones. It was sharks that scared me but I tried not to think about em.
Sometimes we'd be just a couple feet above the big rays, some of them
were 6' across and it never occurred to me that they might do serious
injury as one did the Steve Irwin. We always figured that as long as
you didnt step on them you were safe.