# HHI/jellyfish "season"?



## IreneLF (May 14, 2006)

My family is debating  renting a HHI week at the end of June.
We were there end of  August and the jellyfish were very bad the last 2 days of our week -- 3 of 4 got stung, one badly enough that he didn't want to go back in the water.
Are they a fact of life all summer or should it be better earlier in the season, (as in last week June. )? (in NJ it seems to work that way -- when water gets hotter at end August, the jellies come).
Thanks for any insight!


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## lweverett (May 14, 2006)

Certainly, the warmer the water gets, the worse the jelly fish.  Since the end of June would be early summer, they would be less numerous.


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## jillk (May 14, 2006)

We saw a lot of beached jellyfish in mid-April at Hilton Head.


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## jme (May 15, 2006)

It's up and down the East coast....worst in the hotter months, but always, there "will be creatures in the water". Nothing a little "meat tenderizer" won't fix. If you take a small container to the beach, it'll work every time. I think 3 out of 4 getting stung is very unusual , but not impossible......but we've never experienced it more than once in our many, many years of playing in the ocean there, AND that includes farther down in Daytona, and even down into the Palm Beach area. But, we ARE in THEIR environment...with sharks too...so a little precaution is always best. I see a few jellyfish onshore (dead), say about one per 50-100 yards if walking, but don't see a bunch in the water, but I'm sure they're there. To be honest, I've always recommended that kids wear a t-shirt in the ocean...it prevents the salty sea water rashes, if one is prone to them, especially while riding a float or boogie board, and also helps prevent any creature stings, like jellyfish. ****To change the subject slightly, I guess we'll also have to boycott Florida now because of the alligator attacks.  Seems a jogger was chased down and killed by a gator  (can you believe this statement? >> ) which "had been stalking the jogger". That's one smart gator! Gator was obviously NOT a Florida graduate, but just a local.  **** As for that jellyfish problem, all we have to do is state that jellyfish are an aphrodisiac, and then you wouldn't see one single jellyfish anywhere....they would be harvested all day long.  jme


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## toni3063 (May 15, 2006)

We've gone to HHI every year and anytime from March - August.  We've never seen many jellyfish in the summer months (just lucky I guess).  This past march (and it was COLD), they were the worst we've ever seen.  The beach was covered in jellyfish.  That made us feel better about not being able to get in the water due to the water temps.  No way would we have gone in, with the number of them that were on the beach, I'm sure we would have been stung.


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## IreneLF (May 16, 2006)

THANKS for your replies.
Was hoping that the jellies would not be a problem until end of summer, so will be sure NOT to share the replies with my family, especially DH.    :ignore: 
I've booked the unit so there's no turning back - I'm sure we will be fine,. and if someone gets stung, we do know the remedies having learned about vinegar, shaving cream which is then scraped off with a credit card (from the beach lifeguards) and now meat tenderizer!


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## wackymother (May 16, 2006)

Irene, I posted a similar question about Hilton Head jellyfish a few months ago. I loved Hilton Head's beaches when we visited 15 years ago, but my DH was horrified by the number of jellyfish (and not too pleased about the alligators either) and has no interest in going back. 

I thought ammonia was the antidote, not vinegar?


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## IreneLF (May 16, 2006)

Hi Wacky,
And the funny thing is, DH is the one of the 4 of us  who did NOT get stung, and he is the only one leery about going.
These  jellies were not visible in the water, we had no idea that they were there, so were unavoidable.
As for ammonia vs vinegar, I checked online and only references I found said to use vinegar. Thinking about it,  I would think ammonia might be too harsh for skin. Will be bringing small spray bottle of ammonia and some meat tenderizer to the beach in the hope we never have to use it. We'll save the shaving cream scraped off with a credit card 'trick' for in the unit.


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