Red painful rash from snorkeling area at Castaway Cay?

[MelInAZ]

We sailed the Dream 3/7 - 3/11 and I reluctantly agreed to accompany my daughter to the snorkeling area (I say reluctant because the water was cold and it was so windy!). Well, we had a blast. On the way back in I got a small jellyfish sting on the top of my foot while traversing a thick bunch of seaweed near the shore. Then that evening my daughter and I discovered a bright red rash on our legs - almost like a really bad sunburn but with streaks and what looks like broken capillaries. There are no individual bites/bumps, just a rash.

My husband and son didn't snorkel and don't have a rash, so I'm thinking that the seaweed or snorkel area is to blame. Has anyone else that recently snorkeled at CC come up with a similar rash? We were at CC on 3/9 and the rash is still here and now it is quite itchy. It doesn't hurt anymore, though, and it is slowly healing.

When I looked up pictures of sea lice rashes, it seemed to look like individual bites and there are definitely no individual bites/marks in the rash. Perhaps there is poison seaweed, akin to poison ivy?

 

[MUN]

Ouch! I'm sorry to hear that. Did you put anything on it?

 

[MelInAZ]

Thanks! I did put after sting (ammonia) on it that night and I used cortisone cream and oral Benadryl. It isn't so bad that I've felt like going to the doctor, since it does seem to be slowly improving daily. My sister was concerned about a flesh eating bacteria and insisted that I see the ship's doctor. I assured her that it wasn't that serious hehe.

 

[MUN]

Thanks! I did put after sting (ammonia) on it that night and I used cortisone cream and oral Benadryl. It isn't so bad that I've felt like going to the doctor, since it does seem to be slowly improving daily. My sister was concerned about a flesh eating bacteria and insisted that I see the ship's doctor. I assured her that it wasn't that serious hehe.

I'm glad its better, and that its not a flesh eating bacteria!

 

[minorthr]

Sounds like sea lice.

 

[disneyfaninaz]

Sounds like sea lice.

I was thinking the same thing.

 

[MelInAZ]

Okay - so should be going away in the next few days then - yay!

 

[jliehr]

We were there at the same time, didn't do the snorkeling. Sea Lice aren't a real thing to humans, it's a slang term. It's usually caused by either seaweed that is toxic to humans or jellyfish larvae.

We didn't have any issues in the water or any rashes and didn't hear of anyone else that did either. I did notice someone being tended to by a lifeguard near Pellican's Point, looked like something on her foot.

 

[MelInAZ]

Thanks jliehr - hope you had a nice trip! Someone just posted on another group that all 4 of them that went snorkeling came out with a similar rash so it was probably something in that thicket of seaweed (it was calf high!).

 

[moremouse]

Last October was the first time I actually got in the water at CC at the SB beach. We always go, but never get in the water. I did walk across some rocks and a little bit of short seaweek in the middle of the beach, but moved over closer to the right side of the beach where there wasn't any.

This time we went all the way out to the little sand bar. I got up the next morning to only small little red spots on my lower legs. The same evening... I thought my legs were on fire. The rash went almost up to my knees. I tried to put some lotion on it because the skin felt so tight. I almost made myself cry doing it. It itched so badly but burned when you touched it. Maybe I had whatever you did.

It did go away after about a week, but I almost went to the doctor when I got back too.

 

[TiszBear]

I would bet it was the jellyfish larvae as I had this happen to me and no one else who traveled with me. In the pictures from that trip it looks like I have a really bad sunburn as that would have hurt less then the jelly fish larvae. Al you can do is take Benadryl (if you take Zrytec or something similar use topical Benadryl - as this was told to me by the ship's nurse and doctor). It will get better.

 

[bumbershoot]

Sea Lice aren't a real thing to humans, it's a slang term.

Slang? OK.

It's a weird term to describe the teensy stings from going through a group of larval jellyfish. It's not lice, but I don't call it slang. And I've never before heard of it referring to seaweed.

 

[jliehr]

Slang? OK.

It's a weird term to describe the teensy stings from going through a group of larval jellyfish. It's not lice, but I don't call it slang. And I've never before heard of it referring to seaweed.

Sea lice is a real thing, but it doesn't impact humans

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_louse

The term has been applied to something else, that isn't lice.

As far as the stinging seaweed, http://www.dermnetnz.org/dermatitis/plants/seaweed.html.

I was trying to say what people call sea lice is seaweed, just pointing out it can also cause issues.

 

[squirk]

We were in Virgin Gorda this past November and one of our boat captains (a VG native) talked about how every third person comes out of a snorkeling trip with what they think is a jellyfish sting, but the moon jellies don't sting. He said, nine times out of ten, it's actually the seaweed.

 

[tltay2005]

The actual name for the rash cause by stinging jellyfish larvae is called sea bathers eruption. It is usually on the skin under the bathing suit where the larvae get trapped and sting, but can occur on open skin if the larvae are between the seaweed and skin.

 

[Sytrace]

Sea Safe is product that some folks swear by. I have never had this issue, but I hear it is quite painful and annoying. Hope it heals up quickly.
You can get it at stores like Dive shops, or I think I saw it on Amazon too. I tried to find it at Bass Pro Shops with no luck.

 

[starousse]

When we were at CC, we didn't do any snorkeling, however when my son came out of the water, he did have a razor burn like rash on his stomach. It went away in a couple of days. I just figured it was an irritation due to the sand. I didn't think of sea lice. Ewww!

 

[Tracy Kilbride]

Something I will definitely be looking out for

 

[moremouse]

Sea lice is a real thing, but it doesn't impact humans

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sea_louse

The term has been applied to something else, that isn't lice.

As far as the stinging seaweed, http://www.dermnetnz.org/dermatitis/plants/seaweed.html.

I was trying to say what people call sea lice is seaweed, just pointing out it can also cause issues.

Thanks for the links.

 

[Lv2trvl2]

We own a beach condo on the Gulf of Mexico and spend most of the summer there every year. While this is the first I've heard of jellyfish larvae, we definitely do see times when jellyfish are abundant. Every summer someone in our family gets stung. We keep a spray bottle of vinegar in our beach bag and immediately spray sting area. It always stops stinging and rarely have any problems after. Before we knew of this remedy, we would run to outdoor shower. Fresh water made it sting worse. We also keep baking soda in condo and have sometimes made a paste with the vinegar and applied.
We are going on cruise in a couple of weeks and now that I know it's jellyfish season, I'm adding vinegar and spray bottle to packing list. Btw, if they are CC, they are at other island beaches.