“You know about stingrays, right?” I was asked.
“What?” I remarked, caught off guard.
We were nearly a mile from our starting point in the La Jolla Cove, so I really didn’t want to be discussing stingrays. It was my first open water swim in the ocean, and I was barely getting used to all the weird feelings that come with sharing the water with unfamiliar plants and animals. Fortunately, as I was told, I only have to worry about stingrays when I’m close to shore. They don’t like to get stepped on, so as long as I shuffle and don’t walk when I’m coming into shore, I’m fine. No problem, that’s not something I’ll forget.
As a follow-up to the stingray warning, I was also told “Don’t worry about the sharks, they just hang out at the bottom and won’t bother us.” That I actually already knew about because…