New with snorkeling questions

[Dory42]

Greetings,
I am snorkeling, not diving, but hope that you seasoned folks can help out a neophite.

Having enjoyed my youth, I have a burst right eardrum from a motorcycle accident and discovered that when snorkeling when one breathes in, water enters deep into the ear. Nice. I haven't been that sick in a very long time.

I decided that I will snorkel instead. One more glitch - I am extremely allergic to bees. Of course. This means that jellies and their offspring, sea lice, can really do a number on me.

Recognizing that the only sure thing is to avoid the water altogether. I hope to find other solutions. Wear Sea Safe? Avoid the warm months?Of course, I would avoid the water when jellies were clearly present.

What do the scuba gurus out there think about wearing a drysuit with attached booties and a lycra hood? I read in the forums where a person was "stung" when rinsing a drysuit in a bathtub. So, what if I were to rinse off entirely with vinegar before removing the suit?

Of course, I will avoid the water when jellies were clearly present, but those tiny round ones in Abaco are darn near invisible. Do they sting? In January I will be going to Abaco, Aruba and then the Gold Coast of Mexico. Are the jellies still persistent then? Should I stick to bicycling on the beach and kayaking in fresh waters? So many questions...

Thanks for any insight and sage advice.
Dory42

 

[Dory42]

FYI - I do wear a wax seal over my ear to minimize water intrusion. This would not work for diving, but seems to do a pretty good job snorkeling.

 

[terrylowe]

Hi Dory.
Is it common for a person with a bee allergy to have a cross reaction to jellyfish stings? I did a quick google search and see where one fatality was reported in a snorkeler from PA after he was stung by a jellyfish. (So....as long as your are not from PA.... ;-). There was noted to be some cross reaction in a lab that was not felt to be clinically significant. So it *should* be hard to have a cross reaction...

As far as protection goes, a dry suit would basically be impractical due to cost, bulk, weight, etc. A wetsuit is affordable and would add buoyancy and protection from jellyfish stings. This weekend, I dove were fish were feeding on jellyfish and this released a zillion namatocysts into the water and I was stung everywhere I didn't have protection like around my reg on my face and on my neck and ears. Point is..you can be stung without actually getting all that close to the jellyfish.

Now ....if it were me...I would ask my allergist if he could do a skin test to jellyfish venom to see if you are one of those rare souls that cross-react bee-to-jellyfish. I don't even know if such a test is available. Certainly if you have anaphalactic shock to bee stings, I wouldn't risk getting into the water until an allergist cleared me. I just don't know if those epi-pens work under water or not...

 

[Dory42]

Thank you for taking the time to reply to my post. Wow! Who knew that nematocysts were just floating around like that? Well, I guess you did for one; thanks for sharing.

I hope the allergist can do such a test, that would be great. I will report back when I find out.

In Gratitude,
dory