Sea Wasp Stings Near Stingray City and North Sound

[KathyV]

In the last few days there have been reports posted online about individuals being treated for jellyfish stings or sea wasp stings around Grand Cayman near Rum Point and Stingray City/Stingray Sandbar, see the news reports at the links below which identify Sea Wasps as the problem per the Cayman Department of the Environment.

Sea Wasps were reported as uncommon in Cayman waters so hopefully they will move out soon, but in the meantime you might want to take some precautions and wear a snug-fitting seaskin and/or wetsuit for protection.

One time on Roatan we were hit with a huge influx of Thimble Jellyfish and their invisible, free-swimming larvae would penetrate the surface skin of divers/swimmers and cause a painful, itchy, ugly, red rash. We saw a little boy run out of the water in great distress and he was screaming in pain and terror. The locals called it the Picu Picu.

The divemasters told us to wear protective clothing (including gloves which are not allowed in Cayman) and to put Vaseline on any exposed skin like the neck and facial areas around your mask. They had a big jar on Vaseline on the dive boat along with a bottle of vinegar. If you had a hood you were encouraged to wear it too.

I don't know if any of that actually helps - or what impact Vaseline has on the reef environment! But once they were aware of the problem they tried to avoid diving in areas where the rafts of Thimble jellies were visible on the surface - although sometimes they floated in during the dive. Sea Wasps will be more difficult to avoid because they are often invisible in the water.

We were lucky in Roatan and didn't get any stings - but we saw some other folks (including divers on our boat) that weren't so lucky and they looked very bad. One guy from Germany was heading home and he was afraid that they wouldn't let him back into the country because he looked like he had measles or another infectious disease. Not a great souvenir to bring home from vacation!

Jellyfish stings prompt warning at Stingray City, North Sound barrier reef

2 taken to hospital for jellyfish stings | Cayman Compass

 

[aviator8]

A few years ago we went to GC and stayed out at Rum Point. We did alot of snorkeling in the area. We all got stinging itchy spots but my wife got it bad. The itchiness and rashes went on for weeks and she was miserable. I am pretty sure we got into jellyfish larvae and she must of gotten into alot or be super sensitive to it. I have since gotten her a wetsuit for snorkeling as she is still afraid to do that again. I also am trying a sunscreen by Seasafe that purports to thwart jellyfish and sea lice stings though i have doubts to its effectiveness.

 

[cerich]

hmmm.. as a former (5 years) Cayman Instructor, they aren't uncommon, especially this time of year.

Generally the box jelly hang out shallow and yes, wearing a skin certainly will help.On night dives, they absolutely like coming to your lights, as such I used to brief my divers that we will turn our lights off until we get down 15 ft or so and coming up we do the same, and keep them off. It makes a huge difference.

If you get stung, hit with vinegar and DON"T try and rub the area that will hurt like heck, use a credit card and scrape the area starting outside the affected area. After apply something like Sting Kill but also be aware if the victim starts to display an allergic reaction. The ONLY two injuries to my divers/students that lead to the hospital in the whole time I was there was allergic reactions to stings.. both were fine but the process sucked for all. Have DAN insurance!

Regarding the second post on sea itch.. summer is sea itch season, May thru August and depending on the person it can be horrid. Again a diveskin/wetsuit will help but it has to be skintight and well sealed at neck, wrist and ankles. Otherwise the larvae can get in there and when stuck between skin and material it's worse than not having cover on. In my first two years I never got sea itch, then my body said "enough of this" and developed a resistance to it (allergic reaction) and by the last two years there summer was misery for me to the point I avoided diving whenever possible during sea itch season. Now, 19 years later I was reminded of that as I did 3 dives in shorts and t shirt in Phuket last week and it's also sea itch season there. Within 24 hours I looked like I slept on a fire ant nest.. not so much fun as I was on the trip back to the states at that 24 hours post dive.. Hot as you can tolerate showers hurt in a good way then provide a short period of relief and max dose of benadryl.

I have used Seasafe and it seems to work a bit, enough that while packing for a week at the beach with family next week I threw two bottles in the luggage. YMMV

 

[aviator8]

Regarding the second post on sea itch.. summer is sea itch season, May thru August and depending on the person it can be horrid. Again a diveskin/wetsuit will help but it has to be skintight and well sealed at neck, wrist and ankles. Otherwise the larvae can get in there and when stuck between skin and material it's worse than not having cover on. In my first two years I never got sea itch, then my body said "enough of this" and developed a resistance to it (allergic reaction) and by the last two years there summer was misery for me to the point I avoided diving whenever possible during sea itch season. Now, 19 years later I was reminded of that as I did 3 dives in shorts and t shirt in Phuket last week and it's also sea itch season there. Within 24 hours I looked like I slept on a fire ant nest.. not so much fun as I was on the trip back to the states at that 24 hours post dive.. Hot as you can tolerate showers hurt in a good way then provide a short period of relief and max dose of benadryl.

I have used Seasafe and it seems to work a bit, enough that while packing for a week at the beach with family next week I threw two bottles in the luggage. YMMV

We were there in early Sept so we probably caught the tail end of it. Her wetsuit is very well fitted so I hope it helps. To Roatan next and hoping sea itch is not a issue there. Vinegar is always our first try, for more than this too. It has worked well for me when getting exposed to poison ivy as well. She does seem more sensitive to these things than me or my kids though. She got a milder case in the USVI on our honeymoon years ago.

 

[pepperbelly]

Does anyone still use meat tenderizer like Adolf's on jellyfish stings?

 

[KathyV]

I think that allergies are a major factor in the severity of many animal and insect stings. When my husband gets bitten by a mosquito he has a red, itchy bump that usually fades fairly quickly. When I get a mosquito bite I get a nasty, large, hard welt that itches intensively and persists for a long time.

 

[saxman242]

I got a sea wasp wrapped around my arm in Turks and Caicos about a year ago. I was having randon, instense shooting pains from it for a week. I'm glad I missed this on Grand Cayman last week. Any reports of them showing up on the other Cayman islands?

 

[cerich]

I got a sea wasp wrapped around my arm in Turks and Caicos about a year ago. I was having randon, instense shooting pains from it for a week. I'm glad I missed this on Grand Cayman last week. Any reports of them showing up on the other Cayman islands?

They are all over the Carib, their range is generally the Carolina's to Brazil, all the Caymans fall in it.

 

[caydiver]

It is very unusual for it to happen here in The Cayman Islands. There have been no additional reports since the report on Monday. The DOE has not issued any other warnings but is remaining on top of the situation and keeping all water ops up dated. There has been no advisory on using additional coverup and gloves are totally illegal unless special circumstances are present. Watersports ops are carrying on as usual. I just hung up with the DOE to see if the situation announced and shared earlier this week had changed and was assured it had not. The DOE can be reached at 345 949 8469. Mr Bradley Johnson was very up to date, informative and reassuring. The larve of the thimble jellies is not unusual here at this time of year.

 

[aviator8]

It is very unusual for it to happen here in The Cayman Islands. There have been no additional reports since the report on Monday. The DOE has not issued any other warnings but is remaining on top of the situation and keeping all water ops up dated. There has been no advisory on using additional coverup and gloves are totally illegal unless special circumstances are present. Watersports ops are carrying on as usual. I just hung up with the DOE to see if the situation announced and shared earlier this week had changed and was assured it had not. The DOE can be reached at 345 949 8469. Mr Bradley Johnson was very up to date, informative and reassuring.

Curious why gloves are illegal? Because people think gloves give them freedom to touch or grab anything or something else?