Jellyfish (or not?) bites at pearl

[nicenycpl]

After spending a week at RM we chose to close our vacation with 2 relaxing days at pearl earlier this month, and they were very accommodating about moving our reservation over. My wife had planned on doing the erotic photo shoot as a surprise for my birthday, and had it done at Pearl.

At the end of the photo shoot, I joined her for some photos on the beach. At the photogs direction we posed in the water near the pier, and in the surf which was strewn with seaweed.

About an hour later we both began to experience a burning sensation on our legs....followed by some very angry looking splotches of redness and swelling. As night fell, I became physically ill and spent the entire night shivering and ....(sparing you all the gory details....suffice it to say i was quite unwell). My wife relayed all of this to the front desk who suggested that this has happened in the past, and that it sounded like jellyfish bites. They provided her with a bottle of vinegar to neutralize any venom still on our skin, (this seemed ineffective). Only after a lot of Benadryl did I finally fall asleep and in the morning the resort arranged for a Doc to come see me. (in our many many prior trips to desire, I have seen this guy walking through the resort many times with his bag and have always wondered what poor fool had gotten sick on vacation...ah the irony).

The doc was super professional, and agreed that they were bites/stings but not by jellyfish. It seems that there is some other sea creature that lives in the seaweed that causes this reaction,...he treated me with an injection and an rx for 10 days of steroids. (Upon our return to the states, I went to a premier dermatologist who concurred with the resort doc.....and upped the steroid dosage). It’s been 10 days and the bites are finally healing....(although i gained 5 lbs from the steroids! )

Bottom line: A) has anyone else had any similar experiences? and B) be careful in the surf/water at Pearl. We spent hours each day in the ocean and on the beach at RM with no issues....we spent 5 minutes in the surf at Pearl and this happened.

One thing we couldn’t understand was, if they know this is an issue, why do they do such a poor job clearing the seaweed at Pearl when they do such a better job at it at RM and RM has MUCH more beach to cover?

[2curiousppl]

Sounds like pica pica (also known as sea lice) - but they aren't lice, they're actually tiny jellyfish larvae. There is a season for them (we're in it) and you can be fine one day and then get some rough seas and it stirs them up a bit. Unpleasant, I know.

[Beth/Elton]

Yep sounds like the tiny jelly fish to me, like needles . They get bad this time of year on the gulf coast also. We been here for 9 days and feel sorry for the guys fighting the grass problem, they are raking and hauling sea weed all day, none stop and it comes in faster than they can clear it. But for the last 3 days there has been very little or no sea weed, maybe a wind switch? When it was bad they were everything they could to fight it, even the lobby staff was out there at times! Hard to fight Mother Nature, she always wins.

[bb25]

A few years ago, while staying in Cancun with family, I broke out in welts everywhere my swimsuit touched. Had been in the water several times and sat in wet sand. After a miserable flight home and no relief from Benedryl I went to the Dr. He said it was likely SAND FLEAS and I was ultra sensitive / allergic to their bite. A very expensive steroid lotion was needed to get the hives to go away.

Now I never wear a suit in the water !!!

[WhiteSands]

A few years ago, while staying in Cancun with family, I broke out in welts everywhere my swimsuit touched. Had been in the water several times and sat in wet sand. After a miserable flight home and no relief from Benedryl I went to the Dr. He said it was likely SAND FLEAS and I was ultra sensitive / allergic to their bite. A very expensive steroid lotion was needed to get the hives to go away.

Now I never wear a suit in the water !!!

Sounds exactly like jellyfish stings....

"Experts say the best way to avoid the thimble jellyfish's sting is to listen to reports and don't go in the water if they're expected. Others suggest wearing a waterproof moisturizer such as zinc oxide or thick layers of Vaseline to block the stings. Israeli researchers have also developed a lotion that, they say, borrows from mechanisms found in the clown fish and can prevent jellyfish stings.
Another option (if it is an option) is to swim naked. As the rule goes: No suit, no sting.
"They usually only sting when they get caught between you and your swimsuit and they get squished," explains Doug Allen, a jellyfish expert at the National Aquarium in Baltimore. "That's when their matecysts, the cells that act as stingers, fire off."''

[EroticSailor]

I have been stung by a jellyfish and it had nothing to with wearing a suit. While snorkeling in the BVI he and I bumped into each other. He got my inner forearm. The pain I experienced immediately was not what the OP described here. It was painful like nothing I've ever experienced. Then I did the worst thing possible; rinsed it in fresh water, which spreads the poison. Vinegar did help to alleviate it a little bit.

The scar lasted for weeks. My dermatologist took photos of it to show his students (Boston teaching hospital) and that visit was a month after the sting.