Cocoa Beach warning...

[misseulalie]

If any of you are planning to go to the beach before/after your cruise this week or the next, watch out while walking and swimming. The Man of Wars are everywhere! We had our own incident and while I was watching the news this morning, there was footage of over 30 people getting stung in just one area of the beach.

Here's our "story"...
DH took our DDs to Cocoa beach yesterday. DD-3 saw what she thought was a toy dolphin laying on the sand (purple, shiny, etc..)
So of course she went to pick it up, and OUCH!!! It was a Man of War! She got stung on her fingers and hand. DH got stung on his arm and his friend got stung on his hand.
They drove like 90mph back to our house (about 30 minute drive). As they drove back, I called DD's pediatrician who never heard of a man of war (what? you live in Florida and you don't know what that is???? )

So another nurse called and told me what to do. Basically Cortaid, Benadryl and Advil, plus lots of TLC... We have to watch for swelling and streaking, but she will be ok. She has now proclaimed she does not ever want to go back to the beach...

For anyone who doesn't know what I'm talking about, here it is...

 

[snelsonbrown]

Good morning,
I knew that Daytona Beach was swamped with them, but hadn't heard about them being here yet - Norm and I are going to be at the pier this morning so will have to look out for them for they sure can cause some painful stings.
Thanks for the imput.
Always
Shirley

 

[DVC~OKW~96]

It's critically important to know what you may encounter on any given beach or in the water. I'm sorry the child had to learn such a painful lesson.

It's a good idea to have the adults in the party inform themselves of what may be present.

 

[mommasita]

Poor thing..Is that similar to a jelly fish? As I know what those are, but never heard of a man of war?

Hope your DD feels better soon

 

[SaintTaris]

Poor thing..Is that similar to a jelly fish? As I know what those are, but never heard of a man of war?

Hope your DD feels better soon

The Portuguese Man of War is a type of Jelly fish.
I spent 4 years in Hawaii; we used to take Meat Tenderizer to the beach with us for Jelly Fish stings.

 

[minniemouse1]

We will be in the Daytona/Deltona area in about 3 weeks and plan to go to the beach one day. Will the man of war be gone by then? Are they in the water too or just on the beach in the sand?

 

[misseulalie]

They are in the water, too. It seems like there are "outbreaks" of them. Sometimes they are all the beach, and sometimes there are none for miles around. You just have to watch out for them...

My daughter is feeling much better. Her fingers still hurt, and she can't bend them to far, but she'll be fine.

Thanks for the warm wishes!!!

 

[been2marceline]

I lived new Cocoa Beach in the sixties and we dealt with these things many times. They usually CLOSED the beach when these things were present, I remember days when there hundreds of thousands of them in the water or on the sand.

A couple of days on the beach and they decompose, most of the time druing big outbreaks they will rake the entire beach to get rid of them.

They are like a jellyfish but have a gas filled float or "sail" that allows the schools to travel about by the wind - completely randomly of course.

Sometimes when the currents, wind & waves all get together in a certain way they get blown up onto the beaches, this probably happened the day or night before the kids got stung.

I had good freind who accidentally swam through a couple of big ones - when they are in the water they are very hard to see.

She was hospitalized for several days.

To be safe, ask a local person or a lifegard at any beach that gets exposed to Carribean, Gulf of Mexico or Southern Atlantic waters if there any current outbreaks, they usually keep a good eye out, it is not good PR for visitors to get nailed.

Mild solutions of ammonia also work as treatments, the enzyme "papain", which is produced from papayas, is the ingredient in the meat tenderizer that does the job of breaking up the venom.

 

[ricka47]

We have them up here (north of Jacksonville, Fernandina Beach) as well. I went for a walk on the beach yesterday (too cold to to swim!) and there were quite a few of them to avoid.

 

[smoof]

Yes, I lived in Indian Harbour Beach, 12 miles south of Cocoa Beach. I am not sure if the Portugese Men of War are seasonal or sometimes schools get close to the beach, and they can be a problem. Not to rain on anyone's parade, but you do need to very careful of sharks too! I was flying up and down the beach and the pilot pointed out all the sharks in the water. Sharks feed in about 5 feet of water, about 25 - 50 feet from shore.

 

[captchris]

Yes, I lived in Indian Harbour Beach, 12 miles south of Cocoa Beach. I am not sure if the Portugese Men of War are seasonal or sometimes schools get close to the beach, and they can be a problem. Not to rain on anyone's parade, but you do need to very careful of sharks too! I was flying up and down the beach and the pilot pointed out all the sharks in the water. Sharks feed in about 5 feet of water, about 25 - 50 feet from shore.

We were looking forward to swimming in Cocoa prior to our cruise in September. My parents arrived about an hour before us and were walking around on the beach when they saw a fin in the water. It was clearly a shark. Needless to say we stayed in the pool at the Residence Inn that afternoon.

 

[dreamcometrue]

wow, we live in Southern California and I have never even heard of these!!

 

[misseulalie]

wow, we live in Southern California and I have never even heard of these!!

Stupid question ahead.....

The true name is Portuguese Man of War. Is it possible they don't have these on the west coast because they are native of Portugal? Or how did they get this name if that is not the case???

 

[Gina]

The sting of a man of war can be excrutiatingly painful -- the venom quickly travels to the lymph nodes and causes the pain to be general instead of local, yet not diluted at all. A big danger of these creatures is that their tentacles can be upwards of 60 feet long -- and even detached tentacles, buried in the sand and hard to see, can sting for up to two weeks just as powerfully as when they are attached to the man of war.

If you see more than a couple of these bad boys, best thing to do is stay far away from that beach for a while until the "infestation" has passed.

 

[kat3668]

EWWWWWWW
Sure glad you daughter is feeling better that thing just looks plain nasty!
We rarely even have jellyfish up here in our frigid ocean!
A small price to pay in my opinion!

 

[Vivianne]

Ouch! Thanks for the warning. I remember the red ants that bit DH in Sarasota..

 

[2angelsinheaven]

This is what they look like floating on the water. I was going to take my little brother who will be visiting on Spring Break to the beach Tuesday but after my fiance told me about the outbreak and I read it here we may skip that for now...lol

 

[snelsonbrown]

Norm and I went to the Cocoa Beach pier yesterday for the Champagne brunch and the waters were VERY rough and the waves very high, but the beach was filled with swimmers, surfers, sunbathers, etc and the only warning that was out, was for rip tides. I walked along the water edge, but it just felt so out of sort so I decided to skip the walking on the beach and just watch from the pier. I was stung by the man of wars years ago and I always carried amonia with me for a just in case incident and this is what I used. You have to remember that even if the man of war is dead, it's tenacules are still very dangerous and yep can still sting.
Hope all have a great week
Always
Shirley