By an edhat reader
My neighbor informed me he was stung by a stingray near East Beach this week. I’m new to town and had no idea there were stingrays in the area. Any tips from locals and is there a specific season they show up?
Sting Rays at Local Beaches?
Anonymous
June 11, 2020, 9:21 am
9.3k Views
14 Comments
Written by Anonymous
Comments
1 Comments deleted by Administrator
Leave a Review or Comment
You must be logged in to post a comment.
Pee myth has been debunked.
By who?
We have always heard hot water or urine will reduce the stinging. If you Google it it confirms it!
I’ve never been stung by a ray locally, but have at Bolsa Chica down south, where the are super common during the summer. The lifeguards had me soak my foot in as hot of water as I could stand until the pain/stinging diminished. It is very painful, like getting a nail hammered into your toe (or wherever). My experience is that they like warm water, so be extra cautious during periods of warm ocean temps.
Grew up here and never been stung but any time you enter the ocean you run many risks, including shark attack, we have sharks here too. We also have an undertow that can get really bad at times. Just be careful out there and if you’re going to swim deep wear a life vest.
They are out there. If you shuffle your feet and stomp a bit they will flee, as they don’t like the vibrations. People get stung when they sort of bounce around and softly put their feet down on the bottom and step on a ray. I’ve only been stung once in forty years.
Whatever happened to those giant purple & white stripped jelly-fish i used to see?..
What were they?
Don’t swim where you see homeless camped on the beach.
https://www.independent.com/2019/07/04/avoid-stings-and-bites-this-holiday/
I believe you mean Rip Current. Undertow’s are generally not a safety concern. Just shuffle your feet. Apply hot water if you get stung.
Pee on it! Isn’t that the rule of the thumb?
Sting rays don’t “sting” you. They slice you (your ankle or foot usually) with the barb behind their tail. Generally you need medical help, not pee.
a pod of orcas will solve the stingray issue
Undertows can be dangerous as well. There were a lot of them in Hawaii, when I was growing up. I got caught in one once, while bodysurfing on a beach known to be dangerous because of them. Thankfully, a young Hawaiian man saw me in trouble, grabbed my arm and pulled me out of it. The waves follow closely to each other, and I had also gotten caught by the following wave, and had lost my sense of which way was ‘up’.