Box Jellyfish, anyone?

[momofzeke]

OK, so I'm freaking out a little bit here. I want to snorkle when we cruise the Miracle to Belize and Grand Cayman. DS watched some program on the Discovery Channel about box jellyfish and how deadly they are. They said they are mostly found around Australia. Has anyone heard of these? Am I just being paranoid? HELP!

[bruce-r]

DS should have told you that the box jelly is found ONLY in Australia.

The jelly fish you might encounter in the caribbean can sting, but they are far from deadly.

 

IMO, you should have nothing to worry about. If you want the best protection from anything that might sting as well as over exposure to the sun, then you should get a full wetsuit. Something like This would provide great protection and add a little flotation as well. Even something a little less expensive like this Lycra skin suit would be better than just a swim suit.

[Gaston]

No question a nice full suit will solve most jelly fish sting issues. I guess your hands, face and feet are still exposed under most conditions but the full suit is best. I will however inform my fellow divers of one missing fact concerning Box Jellyfish. Eight to ten days after a full moon will often bring the Box to the shores of Maui. We dove Maui last July and were told that we were lucky to have been there before the next Box invasion. According the some local dive shops, Maui had a pretty bad invasion in May or June. I personally have seen the Man 'o War in Hawaii but thankfully we did not see any Box Jellyfish. One last addition......I carry a plastic bottle of Adolph's Meat Tenderizer in my dive bag at all times. We use Adolph's when we dive, surf, swim, or bodyboard. I cannot tell you how many times a little Adolph's kept someone in our family from wanting to break down in tears with a jellyfish sting. Especially when my three sons were little guys.

[momofzeke]

Bruce, I see you are a fellow Oregonian. I am in southeastern Oregon, and today it is snowing like crazy! Thanks for the reassurances, I do feel better knowing those mean old boxes aren't in the Caribbean.

 

Gaston, thanks for the tip about Adolph's meat tenderizer. Do you just sprinkle it on a jellyfish sting? When we snorkeled on our last cruise, younger DS got stung by a jellyfish. The excursion guides put some kind of stuff on the sting, which helped, but he said it still hurt for a while (tiny jellyfish).

[bruce-r]

Bruce, I see you are a fellow Oregonian. I am in southeastern Oregon, and today it is snowing like crazy! Thanks for the reassurances, I do feel better knowing those mean old boxes aren't in the Caribbean.

All right! I sure hope skiing is better this year than last year. I like the snow, but it seldom snows in the Willamette valley.

 

Another thing used for jelly fish sting is vinegar. I don't know that it helps with the pain that much, but if you put it on before you start rubbing the sting, the vinegar is supposed to neutralize any of the sting that hasn't gone off but is still on your skin.

 

Getting stung by jelly fish isn't pleasant. I have been stung once. I was diving in the Hood Canal in Washington, wearing my drysuit and hood. Just about the only skin exposed was a little bit around my face. I got stung right under my nose. I saw the jelly and it was at least 10-15 feet away from me, but it was a really big one, a lion's mane jelly. The jelly fish in the Caribbean don't get nearly that big.

[Gaston]

OK.......you Oregon guys get my full respect for diving up there! I live on the Southeast coast where the ocean in summer gets so warm it melts the wax right off our surfboards. Truthfully, when we surf/bodyboard, we get stung all the time so the Adolphs is my constant beach backpack companion. I have 3 sons, ages 26 to 16 and we all swear by the meat tenderizer. I know they use vinegar in Hawaii and other places but I assure that meat tenderizer works much better. If you'll allow me, I'll relate a story to you about a trip I took to Maui a few years ago. The boys were young and eager to bodyboard some large Hawaii waves. We lucked out this February couple of days at Wailea. We had great, slightly overhead waves. Unfortunately, the wind direction brought in some man o' wars on the third day. A girl, I'd guess about 14, was stung severely across her back and shoulder to the wrist. She was absolutely hysterical with pain. She had raised whelts like I've never seen. Someone on the beach called for an ambulance. I ran for my trusty backpack Adolphs. I sprinkled the Adolphs directly on all the whelts. Within 45 to 60 seconds, the girl was virtually pain free and reasonably calm. Here's the upshot of the story, my wife is a physician attending a meeting at the Grand Hyatt and it turned out this girl's father was a Canadian physician attending the same meeting. He contacted my wife and wanted to meet with me to thank us for helping his daughter. He told me that during the entire ambulance ride, the medics were wondering what the white salty looking stuff was that I put on her. The physician told me that his daughter didn't cry at all to the ER and was almost pain free the whole time. At the ER, they were able to give her some medication by syringe and some oral stuff. Anyway, the Canadian doctor was simply shocked to hear I used meat tenderizer. As I understand it, the meat tenderizer neutralizes the stinging toxin. It doesn't last forever but you can re-apply until you can rinse with fresh water. Truth is.....I don't care how or why it works. It just does. I carry two of the small containers with the red tops, one sealed and one open. Like my American Express card.........I never leave home for the beach without the Adolphs. Once final note on the Adolphs, when you srpinkle the area, don't rub it in hard because that makes the Nematocysts (the stingy things) pump more toxins. Just sprinkle the Adolphs and very lightly spread it around the area. That will neutralize the Nematocysts. Rinse with fresh water because salt stings too much. Then re-apply the Adolphs. I've done it hundreds of times to my kids and my own skin..........hope you don't ever need it but just in case you do! Sorry about the long winded story.....just thought it tells the Adolphs story well!

[bruce-r]

Gaston, I appreciate the tip. I had never heard of the Adolf's usage. I'll get some for my save-a-dive kit.

[10X]

Gaston,

 

Very interesting and I appreciate the tip. I'm off to the supermarket.

 

Denny

[travelbugs]

There is also a lotion called "sea safe" that actually works. When we went to Castaway Cay we knew we were going during the "breeding" season for jellys (called "sea lice"). Their eggs kling to seaweed and underwater foliage, so when the unsuspecting diver or skorkeler goes by they rub off onto them. They don't start stinging untill fresh water hits them,which then causes them to release their toxins (to protect themselves). Put extra lotion everywhere the bathing suit makes contact with the skin. Another bummer is when a jelly gets chopped up from a boat prop, can't see it but boy you can feel it when you get back on the boat!

[snorklgrl]

OK, so I'm freaking out a little bit here. I want to snorkle when we cruise the Miracle to Belize and Grand Cayman. DS watched some program on the Discovery Channel about box jellyfish and how deadly they are. They said they are mostly found around Australia. Has anyone heard of these? Am I just being paranoid? HELP!

 

I imagine that very few people die every year as a result of jellyfish stings. But the oceans are teaming with dangerous critters -- man o war jellyfish, sharks, poisonous sea snakes -- kraits (which are quite docile, thank goodness) you name it. You're probably more likely to get a rash from sea lice. You can read about it if you click through on this site to the underwater pic.

http://snorklgrl.tripod.com/index.html/