Experiencing the ocean seems is not complete without a few stings. In the last month I got to experience stings from a jellyfish and a stingray. While swimming in Aquatic Park in the San Frasicso bay my arm met up with a jelly fish and my stinging skin quickly let me know that they were not friends. The sting did not last long but left marks on my arm that looked like the burns I used to get from being careless with the wood-burning stove except they were in tentacle patterned slashes across my wrist. By far a much more painful sting was the stingray that found my foot at Seal Beach. This beach is famous for its large population of stingrays that are attracted to the warm waters of the San Gabriel river that are released into the ocean at the jetty. I was aware of their numbers and had called back to Kate "remember to do the singray shuffle" as I slid my feet across the sand. Seconds later I shuffled right into a stingray that stuck its barb into my left foot. The pain was immediate and rather intense. On the actual wound it felt like a cut but my whole foot hurting and I felt a little shaky and like I was sweating. Kate helped me back up to the dry sand and a nice man helped us. Another man jogging down the beach alerted the lifeguard at the other end who picked us up in his truck and back to the station where I could soak my foot in hot water. The lifeguard told us that the barb on the stingray has a protein that enters the bloodstream when they slash their barb against your skin. This protein (which is killed in hot water) acts like a poison and is the reason for all the pain. As I was soaking my foot, two more stingray victims came into the station and we all sat side by side soaking our feet. The lifeguard told us that on any given day they have 20-30 stingray incidents (and those are just the ones that are reported). He told us on a good day they have only 2-3.
In a very strange way I feel even closer and more comfortable with the ocean after my two encounters. Perhaps if I let a little baby shark gnaw on my ankle I can finally get over my fear of underwater teeth.
