Sail 'n Dive
Registered
Let me start by saying up front that this was entirely my fault. I got stung last week on a night dive. The dive operator and the DM briefed us thoroughly. It was at a dive site in Roatan, and it had been raining the day before. The dive op and DM warned us that they usually see a lot of jellyfish in the one to five foot range at night after rain. They strongly recommended that we don full wetsuits, and that at the end of the dive, we should group together under the boat (depth was about 20'), turn our lights off, then ascend slowly, using octo purge valve to blow any critters away from the face as we ascend. First thing that went wrong: I got stung on the face half way through the dive, at about 45'. Knowing we were at maximum distance from the moored boat, I hardly wanted to surface, so I tried to stay very Zen as my face became quite painful. (With hindsight, I think I should have made my condition clear to the DM in the water with us, as I do not think I was 100% myself after that happened.) I also took a lot more care to avoid being in the path of other divers' lights. But I was distracted by the pain and not looking forward to the ascent. I must also say that it was a bit of challenge to ascend with the boat somewhere above my head and not have a light on the hull to give me full peace of mind. Anyway, I hung back a bit when the DM ascended at the end of the dive, staying with the group (who were also ignoring the DM's advice and using up their air looking at critters, with their lights ablaze.) I ascended about 5 mins after the DM, doing the octo blowing thing, with my dive light off. I surfaced just fine, but for some strange reason (brain fart or what!) I popped my light on, shone it on my head, to signal to our boat captain waiting at the stern that I was ok. What a mistake ! I was instantly nailed by a gnarly jelly -- and with the new flash of pain, I felt like my entire face was on fire. Swimming a mere ten feet to the boat on the surface was a real chore, as was getting out of the water. The DM and boat captain and resort operator (all Reef House Hotel) were terrific -- they supplied vinegar for me to wash the area thoroughly, and were quietly supportive, but I am also very very thankful that they did not make a big deal out of the fact that I goofed up. I am new to the art of warm water night dives, and I guess it shows. I also took some antihistamine meds and applied a calomine/antihistamine gel. Even so, I had quite the burn for about an hour, and although the marks all almost completely gone, the itch from those little micro-harpoons still comes on from time to time. Hey at least I did not go in the water at night naked unlike this one tourist in a story provided by a gossipy dive buddy who was, I think, trying to make me feel better. Live and learn ...
I've tried putting more photo's in but have had problems so I kind of gave up. One of these days.
