Jellyfish in Puerto Vallarta?

My wife and I have traveled extensively around Central America, Cuba, and have been to Mexico many times. We both love the ocean and my wife usually spends about 2 hours a day in the sea.

We were recently in Puerto Vallarta and over the course of several days she was stung by what we believe were jellyfish. We didn't see any, but the descriptions I've read online seem to match. I've read that with some types of jellyfish (which can be the size of a man's thumb and translucent) when the tentacles brush by you, they leave what look like tracks (for lack of a better description).

I've read about the remedies, but what I'm most curious about is whether some people are naturally more susceptible to being stung. I was with her in the water several times when this happened (she said it felt like a burn with a cigarette) and I was never stung at all.

This always seemed to happen around 9:00-9:30 a.m. On each day that it happened the water looked very clean. We've been in PV this same time for the last several years: It happened in 2015, but not last year.

It just all seems so weird. I wonder if there is any way of preventing it.

dg

I was bit/stung by what the locals called 'malagua' but they didn't have tentacles that I could discern, so it may not have been the same critter. They were kinda bunched in a string and looked like a string of ice cubes for lack of a better description. I barely noticed it and thought it might have abrasions from body surfing.
As far as remedies go, I learned in advanced first aid to urinate on a sting, as the ammonia neutralizes the venom.

A friend of my wife's got stung once and my wife told her she should've peed on it. Her friend replied, 'I couldn't, it swam away'

Nope! Lots of varieties of Jellyfish from the clear non stinging ones to some really nasty guys.
They mostly drift with the current/tide and vary at different times
Once in the British Virgins when we dove the "Rhone" we had to dive through about 50 feet of the non stinging kind that just dissolved in one's hands. An incredible experience! This was the day before the ship was closed to film the movie "The Deep" back in the late 70's.

PS I have been told that by professional divers the Urine remedy is a Old Wife's Tale but have no personal knowledge or experience on the subject.

dg27, I always check the sand for washed up jellyfish, it is usually the small purpleish/ clear ones that drift with the tides and winds, you know they make a anti sting / uv friendly swim suit...here is a link:

https://www.ecostinger.com

Thanks for your replies ElPelon and stewbear.

I've also heard about pee remedy and some says it's good for a few laughs and nothing else, while others swear by it.

I'm not interested in debating that--we're just trying to figure out how to avoid it in the future. (She swam in loose fitting pants I bought in India that have gathered ankles; that seemed to prevent it the last two days we were there.)

bajadude,

We checked the sand each day and there was nothing we could see.

Thanks so much for the link! She'll be glad to get one of these. She swims in pools when there is no other option, but greatly prefers the sea.

I find in some topical waters I experience hundreds of stinging sensations and have been told authoritively that they are due to stinger larvae or commonly known as sea-lice. They are too small to be seen and although they don't mark my skin, some people are left with marks and rashes. To me swimming through the water, it feels like hundreds of pinpricks, harmless but uncomfortable. They're prevalent in warm summer seas and particularily where there is alot of seaweed. I think if OP problems were due to grown jellyfish then there would be visible evidence of them, either alive in the sea or washed up dead.

It probably is an old wives tale. That's why they taught it in first aid rather than med school. But that was a long time ago. The Heimlich maneuver used to be taught too.

Thanks for the reply.

In my wife's case the stings are a series of equidistant red marks spaced about 1/4 inch apart in a row, consistently 3-4 inches long. This agrees with what I read online about the tentacle brushing, say, the leg. It looks nothing like a rash: 12 hours later it looks like a track of some sort. And from what I've read (as I noted above) some jellyfish will be thumb-sized and translucent (not like the Man-of-War variety).

The water where we were swimming had absolutely no seaweed, btw.

This month's Outside magazine suggests you can use vodka instead of pee!

Will keep that in mind :).

You´re lucky you didn´t come across this critter: http://mexiconewsdaily.com/news/huge-jellyfish-filmed-off-puerto-vallarta/

It would scare the piss out of me!

This month's Outside magazine suggests you can use vodka instead of pee!
Topically or internally ?

Never had a problem in Mexico, but....
There was something in the ocean in Varadero Cuba, some clear, jelly-like, thumb-sized "objects". I would bump into them when swimming, but really couldn't see them. I was told by locals that they don't sting at certain parts of the year.
As far as "sea lice", I have seen and gotten bitten by tiny, shrimp-like creatures in the ocean in northern Brazil (Sao Luis, Maranhao state), enough to make me leave the water, but they left no visible mark or itch/sting after they nipped. The local fishermen's kids called them "fish lice" (piolio do pesce).
If ammonia in pee is supposed to work on jellyfish stings and you want to be a bit less crude, try those AfterBite pens made to relieve mosquito bites. They are mostly ammonia.

Thanks for all the replies.

Funny we were in Varadero several years ago and never experienced anything like this.

Looks like I'll be buying my wife one of the ecostinger suits bajadude suggested.

Jellyfish are unpredictable they follow currents and food. Here one day, gone the next.

I guess so: We've been going to the same spot at the same time of year for several years and this only happened this year and in 2015.

Jellyfish are unpredictable they follow currents and food. Here one day, gone the next.

I would say jellyfish flow with the currents and carried by the wind......

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