Don't step on those little bastards. It hurts. I paddled about 200 meters, attempted to ride one wave, got pounded by the next three, and somewhere in there got in some shallow water and stepped on one of these things. About 3 minutes later, I noticed 30 or so "needles" jammed up under my skin. It was so nasty... I should've taken a picture. So then.... I paddled 200 meters back to the beach, turned in the board, and went to the store to buy some vinegar, which my foot still stinks like!
Ouch, that sucks. One question, why did you put vinegar on your foot? Does it help it heal better or something?
count yourself lucky it wan't blue bottle fish... that thing leaves nasty scar as well as burning like hell...
heheheh you are in the country with the most dangerous animals >_> is like a jungle x 10000 :smt014 buy you have koalas and cangarous
I got bit by a rattler when I was in 5th grade. That and got stung by a sting ray. All scared the shit out of me. At least the urchin wasn't a posionous one.
Yeah, the guys at the surfboard rental shop talk about it like it was a fact of life. Even the life guard said he had it, way worse than mine once. The vinegar has amonia in it, which neutralizes the burns, and I assume kills bacteria.
Vinegar alsot stops most swellings, like if you get stung by a bee. Vinegar neutralizes the poison and stops the swelling.
Actually, it does a lot. Since my wife was doing her usual, which means not answering the phone, I got to go and buy all the shit myself.... despite the fact I was covered in sand, limping. A large portion of goods here are aimed at Japanese, and Rice Vinegar and Balsamic was all they had. 2 hours in the rice vinegar, it peeled enough skin off to get about 80% of the... uh... crap out of there. My wife had some brown vinegar that did nothing more but make me foot and our apartment reek.
Ouch, well think of it as a "back to nature"-erlebnis ;-) I heard there's some sort of stingy animal in the mediterranean whose poison has a strongly paralysing effect... sounds very nasty. Oh and don't you have the "sea wasp" in Hawaii? I get freaked out by normal jellyfish, but that one's 1000x times as nasty...
I saw a webpage that had photos of people with jellyfish stings... fuck that. That's just wrong. My injury is very weenie compared to that.
With things to step on, sting you, fecal coliform bactera to swallow and endless other crap to ruin your day, I'll continue to stay out of the ocean.
hehe maybe next time wear some flippers - atleast if the waves hit you your feet are protyected and you can swim better, downside being surfing with flippers will probably mean you will fall off a lot :smt083 It's a good job you're not allergic to the stings though! a m8 of mine will die if he eats certain nuts as he is severely allergic to them, aswell as bee stings, plasters (band aids) and all kinds of other crap - you name it, he is allergic to it :smt043 Get well soon though :smt023
You can urinate on the wound as well to ease the pain...not a pleasant thought but helpful if you're no where near civilization...be careful of the coral too Gaijin...I still have a piece under my skin on my back from surfing in Hawaii....
Motherf'n Blue Bottles. I still have the scar from when I copped a blue bottle tentacle along the legs (bout 11 in QLD). Felt like an enitire row of bees stinging the shit out of my leg. Fun to pop with sticks though :smt043
Thanks for the type, kstyle. The urination thing is good if you're stuck somewhere w/ nothing to treat it with, but the lifeguards have have squirt bottles of vinegar which do the same thing. Even if I had to pee, imagine sitting on a surfboard, left foot in the air, trying to hit it.
yep! won't be a pretty sight. on the other hand you could've been on the night news - man stung by sea urchin trying to urinate onto the wound while sitting of the board... and missed...
