Turns out our coastal waters are also haunted by a Halloween ghost.Actually lots of them;
And even worse: they sting!
Early fall is jelly fish season in Florida.
You can’t see them in the water, but when they touch you with their tentacles there’s no question they are there.
It’s a wincing pain if you’re an adult, for a child – count on crying.
The good news here in southwest Florida is that we don’t get the Portuguese Man o’ War, which apparently they do over on the east coast.
(Yet another reason to live on the left hand side of the peninsula!)
These ghosts are little less scary so long as you have a stock pile of the antidote on hand, or rather in a bottle, which in this case is vinegar.
It soothes the sting immediately when you pour it over.
A beached jelly fish is fairly harmless.
Just watch your step.
7 comments:
Yipes---have you ever been stung by a Jellyfish???? I have not--but one of my sons got stung. He said it was HORRIBLE. SO--you are right in saying "Watch your Step"... Those darn Goblin Jellyfish!!!!!
Betsy
Interesting...I've seen men-'o-war along the northern Gulf coast/panhandle. I wonder why they don't ever show up in the Naples area.
---Prem
Yes, we get those here in the late summer which makes it a caution to swim in the bay. I have been stung by some species in the South Pacific but it didn't hurt terribly, it just burned for hours.
We may very well get them, if so, they are fairly infrequent. Let me check up on that.
Now that I've been thinking about it, I think I do have one recollection of seeing a beached Man o' War along the beach at Naples ... but that's only once in 11 years.
I'd hate to swim into, or step on, a jellyfish. Beachgoers, beware.
We were haunted by jellies in Norfolk when we lived there while my husband was in the USN.
Nasty creatures, on the beach or in the water.
Post a Comment