jellies?

[MikeRiley]

having read some threads talking about them lately, does anyone have tips for diving if they're bad? do most ops find a place to put you in without them? I've been stung a few times and definitely not interested in trying to get through a bunch of them to get down. maybe a hood would be a good idea?

 

[gopbroek]

I was down about 10 days back and occasionally would see large concentrations of them. I wear a hood and full suit and avoided them but on occasion had to surface through them. I suffered no stings and I saw others without much protection go through them without getting stung. At the time the currents were unusually slow so that may have allowed for the large patches to congregate.

 

[MikeRiley]

how do you surface through them without getting stung? a hood would make me feel better; at least then i really only need to worry about my hands. between the mask and my beard my face should be reasonably safe?

 

[gopbroek]

They just didn't seem to sting

 

[cvchief]

Lots of them didn't seem to have the stringy dos hanging.

 

[ColoDale]

Most times the jellyfish bother us in March/April. We see thimble jellies in large clouds and we swim around them coming up. However when we get stung it then it is nematocysts which cannot be seen well or at all. Most stings happen for me near the surface within say about 10-20 feet. I have had other stings from longer clear jellies that warp aroung a leg or wrist. These are few and far between. Every once an a while - I can count it on one hande since 1997 where I get hit on the lip but I just deal with it. I dive in surf shorts and a 3mm jacket. I get more stings from hydroids when taking photographs. The ones you can't see - nematocysts or clear ones - means there isn't much you or the dive op can do except you wearing exposrue protection. Some trips during many times of the year especially winter months, I don't get any jelly stings. The dive op should not drop you into clouds of thimble jellies and you will be able to see those. Normally antihistimine - oral or topical - or cortisone takes care of it for me. Other people have it rasie up and itch alot.

 

[ibj40]

If you see a cloud of thimbles above you, can't you just purge your reg, and the bubbles will clear a hole? Haven't encountered them in a long time, but seems to me that was what the DM's were doing.

 

[DandyDon]

If you see a cloud of thimbles above you, can't you just purge your reg, and the bubbles will clear a hole? Haven't encountered them in a long time, but seems to me that was what the DM's were doing.

Yep, if you purge your reg, the bubbles will pull water up with them, pushing the jellies away - more or less. They'll drift back soon tho, so hope for a fast pickup.

 

[cvchief]

It wasn't lil ones. It was like alot of these:

 

[DandyDon]

It wasn't lil ones. It was like alot of these:

That's a Moon Jelly, isn't it - easily "recognized by its four horseshoe-shaped gonads," sometimes five. Isn't it harmless? Certainly pretty.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Aurelia_aurita

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