When I was eighteen, a very long time ago, I was bitten by a sea snake while I was bathing in the South China Sea. The pain was incredible, and I was very lucky to survive. The snake must have had nearly as big a shock as me. After all, it had just been doing its usual thing on a Saturday afternoon when my big human foot stepped on it. It shot off through the water, seemingly unharmed. I hope it was. There was a huge variety of wild creatures in the sea off the Malaysian coas