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Original poster

Sea swimming and jellyfish

46 replies

ohfook · 15/08/2022 07:33

I'm not sure if I've somehow managed to overestimate the danger jellyfish pose, but if you swim in the sea how do you manage to avoid getting stung by a jellyfish?

I've been wanting to do more open water swimming for a while and finally plucked up the courage to start yesterday evening but when I got to the beach there was loads of jellyfish. However plenty of people were still swimming in the sea seemingly unbothered by them?

So is there a trick or time of day to avoid getting stung or is it just not the big deal I thought it was - like just a risk most people take if they want to swim in the sea? And if you did get stung could you get out of the sea safely or is it so painful that you couldn't concentrate on swimming? And would you need to go to the hospital or just deal with it yourself?

I'm north east England if it makes any difference in terms of type or amount of jellyfish!

I also used to have a huge fear of quicksand too until I realised that quicksand related deaths in urban areas of Newcastle were fairly rare. I think I was raised by exceptionally cautious parents and maybe I'm not the best at understanding levels of risk!

OP posts:

MissBattleaxe · 15/08/2022 07:37

Not all are dangerous. My cousin does a lot of off shore sea swimming and had to swim through jellyfish. He said it gave him some blisters and the organisers had vinegar ready for the swimmers.

MissBattleaxe · 15/08/2022 07:38

I'm an open water swimmer and it would put me off if I saw a lot of them!

TheChosenTwo · 15/08/2022 07:41

I was recently in NI and I’ve never in my life seen so many jellyfish! I honestly had rarely seen one ever before despite spending a lot of time at the beach. Hundreds if not thousands of them, massive ones too.
and crossing from NI back to Liverpool on the ferry - again the sea was teeming with them - they’re beautiful but I’d not want to swim anywhere near them.
dd has been stung a few times by them and it’s been quite nasty.

Boybandfacedfannyfart · 15/08/2022 07:41

They’ll soon be gone from the North Sea. But sensibly, the moon jellyfish - those are the transparent ones with four circles in them don’t sting. I wouldn’t recommend it, but you could rub them into your face and feel nothing.

the ones you need to watch out for are the lion’s mane - the ones with the long orange tentacles. they’re luckily few and far between in the North Sea, but do deliver a nasty sting - even when dead! (What kind of fuckery/sorcery is that?). Should you get stung it’ll hurt like fuck for a day but won’t kill you.

if there are lion’s manes around, swim with your head out of the water because yeh, you look like a pro-swimmer with your head down moving effortlessly through the water until you get one in the face.

WoodlandWalks123 · 15/08/2022 07:44

I heard there’s a lot more than normal at the moment due to warmer water - noticed lots on Lincolnshire coast too

BarrelOfOtters2 · 15/08/2022 07:55

I wouldn’t swim if there were loads. But the odd one just keep clear. Look up online and see the ones to really avoid.

Waveifyouknowme · 15/08/2022 07:59

Quicksand! My parents also managed to terrify me about this, especially on holiday at Grange Over Sands. I grew up thinking thousands die from quicksand.

Odd jelly I swim around. Sea of them and I will go for a run.

TheTurn0fTheScrew · 15/08/2022 08:03

Not all sting. I only realised this last week when I trod on one with no I'll effects, and started googling out of interest

bluevioletsky · 15/08/2022 08:05

Sea is full of Lions Manes round here (west coast Scotland) just now, enough to put me off a bit and be
very cautious about kids swimming. Apparently due to the hot weather/sea hoping they’ll head off soon! The pink Compass ones are harmless though but haven’t seen many of those this year. Def been quite a few people stung amongst paddle boarders etc this last week here. Not dangerous but very unpleasant.

BeethovenNinth · 15/08/2022 08:09

East Scotland here and DD saw one and “ignored”’it and DH - who swims much further out and with gloves/full suit - pushed it away!

haven’t given it much thought until now and I regularly swim. I will probably carry on in blissful ignorance

JessicaBrassica · 15/08/2022 08:12

In Yorkshire there was a thin line if thembat mid calf depth. Once You passed through it, the sea was clear. I was stung. But didn't notice when it happened, only when I came out and realized my ankle was itchy. Less itchy than a mozzie bite.

lljkk · 15/08/2022 08:20

I got stung by 1 or 2 little jellyfish a few weeks ago: I']ve had far worse nettle stings, honestly. Or scratches by bramble. Seemed like "lots" of them (many ppl in the water were noticing them), but obviously we were all still out there.

Weaver fish: I can see reason to try hard to avoid those.

MrsOwainGlyndŵr · 15/08/2022 08:21

I regretted telling DD about tidal waves. For years afterwards she worried that a tidal wave might wash us all away. We're in Wiltshire!

lljkk · 15/08/2022 08:22

ps: Little brown ones, maybe Chrysaora hysoscella

OrangeSamphire · 15/08/2022 08:27

I swim most days of the year in Cornwall. The jellies are only really a problem July - September.

During these months I stay close to shore and swim when the tide is going out rather than coming in.

I would avoid swimming on any days when the water isn’t crystal clear, as it’s harder to spot them in murky water. Or if there are reports of Portuguese Man Of War, which are very dangerous. None here so far this year.

Compass jellies will sting and it can be painful so if there are loads in the water I might avoid, although they aren’t dangerous. There have only been two days this year like that.

Moon jellies are not a problem at all.

Get to know your jellies, plenty of pics on google.

And I wear swim shoes all year round to avoid weaver fish stings.

Personally I can’t want for the water to cool down again so the jellies (and people) piss off!

megletthesecond · 15/08/2022 08:32

orange that's useful to know about swimming when the tide is heading out. We're in the SW a few times every summer and I was trying to figure out how to avoid jellyfish, they were around last week. DD was stung a couple of years ago but I've managed to avoid them so far.

Arnaquer · 15/08/2022 08:32

What are the purple ones? Do they sting?

Stravaig · 15/08/2022 08:32

(smiling at risk of quicksand related death in urban Newcastle :)

Jellyfish aren't evenly distributed throughout the ocean. You can swim and see none, or at the other extreme there may be a swarm of them, or anything in between.

Not all jellyfish are stingers. If you search for 'types of jellyfish UK waters' there are tons of resources on how to identify them and what to do if you do happen to get stung.

I grew up playing in and out of the North Sea as a child, and while I vividly remember swimming among jellyfish, I didn't ever get stung. (I used to freak out about kelp forests though.)

Could you start out with a sea swimming group who can teach you the practical information you need, and build confidence that way?

Abraxan · 15/08/2022 08:50

I was stung by a jellyfish on holiday one year. I rarely go in the sea but it looked so inviting on a very hot day. I didn't swim but was in up to my wait or so.
Didn't see any jellyfish at all until I was stung.

Was incredibly painful and took ages to stop stinging, even after getting some treatment.

I now only go for a paddle at most and stick to the pools instead.

Neeway · 15/08/2022 09:06

Hi OP jellies are little sods but tbh I swim 2/3 per week in North Sea and only been stung a handful of times. Some stings hurt like hell and others barely register. If you’re on any of the North East Sea Swimming Facebook Groups you’ll often see people reporting when the sea is full of them. I know some people avoid swimming all together or wear sting suits but others (I include myself in this) see it as their home we’re entering and they’re not as ‘bad’ and as plentiful as we imagine.
I have been however known the leave the sea screaming when I’ve spotted one on me - but to be fair I wasn’t stung.
Bring on the winter and they’ll be gone.

Babdoc · 15/08/2022 09:08

Some PPs seem very casual about stings. I swam into a swarm of jellyfish in the Med, years ago, and felt like my whole arm had been lashed with nettles. The stings induced photosensitivity, so whenever my arm was exposed to the sun for the next week, the painful rash all re-erupted.
I would avoid swimming if there are heavy swarms, or wear a wet suit as protection, OP.

BeethovenNinth · 15/08/2022 09:24

Laughing about the tidal wave comment.

so many similar things I have causally mentioned to the DC that they worry about eg ticks, sea safety in terms of drowning, wearing a well fitting helmet. I am not going to stop their love of the sea with jellyfish chat!

Boybandfacedfannyfart · 15/08/2022 09:28

But @Babdoc the North Sea is not the same as the med! And those of us in the north of Scotland don’t need to worry about a myriad of beasties. We need to worry about bloody ticks, not scary jellies, hornets, false widows etc.

(my tick bite and subsequent Lyme is now used in teaching at ninewells 😁)

Babdoc · 15/08/2022 09:37

Boyband, with the current heatwave and climate change, toxic jellyfish are extending their range northward. Even an occasional Portuguese man o war has been found in UK waters. We can no longer be complacent about the risks. I have caught mosquitoes in my house in Perthshire in the last two years, a species I hadn’t found in the previous forty years.

Drevere · 15/08/2022 09:40

I have not been in the ocean since I learned about irukandji.... You won't see those coming. Not willing to risk that!!

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