Got a Live One...

[Erik G. Berger]

Good afternoon everybody!

New here and looking for co-lovers of all things oceanic! Been scuba diving once out in Hawaii, but I spend most of my time looking for opportunities to learn about and appreciate the sea and its creatures. I live about an hour outside Chicago suburbs and do graphic design, artwork, and soundtrack composition for short films when I can. I also own more books on sharks than both of our local libraries combined, fun fact. A big fan, and fairly knowledgeable on marine bio topics, though still very much a beginner when it comes to experience being out in the water.

Got a weird one for you, an odd story I hope might give a good laugh and brighten your Sunday. I was out in western Costa Rica about six months ago, swimming about—pretty foolishly, now that I think of it—a good 100 yards from the shore, enjoying the surf and all that, when I get pushed by a bit of an unexpected current into a large reef pile. Gashed my foot up pretty bad and found my left sole of my foot the unwilling recipient of a (not so) sweet sea urchin kiss!

I got a fairly standard dollop spines in me and walked back over the sand with a bloodied foot, heading home to vinegar up and scrape out the dissolved spines. Thankfully it wasn’t any of the more dangerous species, but the buggers were more than persistent and took about a week to get fully removed...Or so I thought.

One or two of the spines managed to crop up about a month later under the skin, to minor irritation—one of them puncturing a toenail and the other my index...toe. My second toe, right? No pain, no inflammation to speak of. Woke up this morning however with pretty severe pain in the toe, and here I am, six months later still suffering the wrath of the little spiny fellows and wondering what happened! Gonna take it in to immediate care as soon as I get approved for healthcare...

Of course you could say “what a dummy” and make this an amateur-bashing post, which would be all well and deserved, but more than that, cordially, take it as a means to see better ways of enjoying our oceans. Personally I’m looking forward to more responsible adventures in the future, and no more accidental urchin attacks on account of my own poor planning, a mistake I hope to never make again!!! Urchin soccer is permanently out of season for me, let’s hope. Haha!

Anyway, honored to join here, hoping to contribute and learn as much as possible. If I’ve broken any forum rules here, which I wouldn’t be surprised if I have, please do let me know. I’d like to be a good, budding, rule abiding member as much as I can.

Again, many thanks. Very happy to be here! Cheers.

Vaya a la playa,
—Erik

 

[Marie13]

Greetings from the Chicago burbs. I’m one of the resident Great Lakes wreck obsessed divers. Great diving in our back yard.

Sounds like you’re ocean only, though. We’ve got some wonderful wrecks in the cold green water of the Great Lakes.

 

[TMHeimer]

YOU'RE a dummy? What about me when 12 years old in 1966 snorkeling in a lagoon near San Juan PR, seeing a white, sharp spined urchin and wondering what that feels like to touch?
Well, there was no ScubaBoard to tell me never to touch anything.....

 

[drrich2]

Hi:

If sharks are a big interest, are planning any 'sharky' trip destinations? For reef sharks there're the Bahamas, Turks & Caicos and St. Croix (diving off the north wall). For larger sharks, there's North Carolina and Jupiter, Florida (with option for shark feed diving later, though I wouldn't rush that even if you ever decide to do it).

Richard.

 

[NYCNaiad]

Welcome to Scubaboard!

A number of us have had accidents occur. The one I had with marine life was when I kissed by a jellyfish on the surface returning back to the boat. Nowhere near the nicest kiss I've ever had, but it did feel electric! lol Side note: Vinegar sprayed onto your lips is not pleasant. OTOH, I'm probably one of the few people in the world to say they've been kissed by a jellyfish.

Hope your foot injury clears up. Do you have DAN insurance? If so, your accident should be covered by them if your primary health insurance does not cover it (or if you don't have health insurance). If you don't have DAN, I'd urge you to get the insurance as it's cheap (DAN membership + insurance was only $110/year for me) & will cover all sorts of things that regular health insurance won't including a hyperbaric chamber which can cost thousands of dollars. (A friend of a dive buddy had to come up with $10,000 in cash before a chamber would treat them on some island because they didn't have DAN insurance. His wife was with him & she told my buddy it was a nightmare having to get their bank to wire the money. It took many hours while her husband was writhing in pain. Luckily, they had the money. Can you imagine if they didn't? But if they had DAN insurance, the clinic would have let them immediately into the chamber since DAN always covers chamber rides.) But whether you're a member or not, you can also call DAN to find a doctor with experience in this injury & recommendations of how to proceed with treatment.

Side note: If you're looking for local buddies, a good place to post is in your local forum which is this one: Great Lakes Wrecking Crew.

It's my understanding that they also have an active Facebook group: Great Lakes Wrecking Crew

 

[Seaweed Doc]

Don't feel too bad. My 482nd dive, surge pushed me into my first urchin encounter (hand). I was too focused on the turtle I was videotaping and other divers all around.

Even dumber, I "willingly" swam through jellyfish swarms because the job required it. A couple times a year for 5 years.

 

[TMHeimer]

Diving through a swarm of jellies off Long Island in July wearing a shorty is not advisable.

 

[KathyV]

Welcome! Lots of us have had unpleasant encounters with stinging creatures. Once on Bonaire when I was walking out of the water after a dive, I fell forward and placed my hand directly on an urchin - yeow! I asked the divemaster at our dive op for advice and he told me to pee on it. I was annoyed but husband laughed and said "Well, at least he didn't offer to pee on it for you!" At that point I said "Take me to a doctor NOW!"

The doctor took good care of me and there was no peeing involved!

 

[TMHeimer]

My brother got stung snorkeling in Texas in 1972--maybe Man-o-War? Big jelly? Guy told him to pour Chlorox on it, which did the trick. Unfortunately he dropped his bag of collected shells when stung.