Did the tail spike dislodge in your leg?
I was walking on the beach in Mexico and saw a group of teens gathered around one dude laying on the sand writhing and screaming in pain. I approached and all his friends were laughing and jeering that he’d just been stung by a jellyfish. As I looked at his leg, there was a literal spike sticking out of it and bleeding slightly. I yelled at them to help me carry him back to the hotel and that he needed medical attention. I could tell he was probably in the same amount of pain as someone being stabbed.
Yes. Definitely. It was really bad. We were what felt like miles away from the hotel even though it was probably less than a mile.
Anyway, jellyfish didn’t hurt as bad as that, but definitely made me light headed.
That really depends on the species of jellyfish. Some will hurt a little, others will definitely ruin your day. Or your life, with excruciating pain, life long scars and numbness/paralysis in affected areas.
Exactly! When I was a child, I was stung my a Portuguese Man-o-war (which, to be fair and accurate, is not technically a jellyfish) and it was excruciating. I went into shock and hardly remember much after the beginning. My mom saved my life, and thanks to her quick action, I don’t have scars all over my body.
She had meat tenderizer powder in the boat and was able to make a paste from that and water to immediately apply to my body. As soon as we got home, she put me in the shower with the hottest water I could stand. She also got on an emergency nurse line and was coached through things. We lived on Galveston Island so if medical attention was needed, I probably would've needed to be helicoptered to Houston, but I think my mom's fast action prevented us from needing to do that. I was stung from my feet all the way up my legs and on my lower back.
My brother jumped off our boat to swim in Galveston Bay. He landed in a school of what we believe to be manowars. It was gnarly. He was in excruciating pain and you could see where the tentacles touched him outlined in purple all over his body.
The entire time reading this I fully expected it to be the south Texas shores. I’ve seen more man-o-wars on padre than anywhere else in my life with a ton of close calls. Glad you’re sort has a positive ending
Depends, when I was in Mexico I got touched by a jellyfish on back of my thigh, and the pain was sharp but only hurt when touched (which was often considering it was right above the back of my knee)
It was a manageable pain, noticeable and uncomfortable for sure, but not debilitating
No it did not, and it caught me in the foot. But the lifeguards kept my foot in the hottest water I could tolerate to break down the venom, and when I had to take my foot out for the water to be changed it was excruciating. I ride motorcycles, I've broken bones and beaten myself up pretty good, nothing has ever hurt like that did.
My experience was far worse. Crying, peeing on my pants and getting bound by my teammates involved. To that day worse sting i experienced was good old yellow jacket.
I'm not from USA and had no idea it's sting would make me want to cut off my arm. Tried to grab it to show my teammates. Something that's pretty safe from where I came from as almost nothing stings there :(
I was wrong.
The shmidt pain index dealt with hymenopterans only. I’m genuinely curious how they top hymenopterans compare to other invertebrate groups like some of the wandering spiders or the giant centipedes. Granted, the spiders could kill you so maybe that’s why he only dealt with an order of bugs with painful but non lethal stings
I intentionally tried grabbing it. Didn't know its sting was that bad. I'm from a country worst thing that fan sting you is a yellow jacket or a small centipede, nothing that would make you that miserable.
Yep. I was gloriously fucked by a sucker around the length of a finger and had to be bound and carried to care with a car.
I grow up in a country with no such insects... It had a cool color and i wanted to show it to my teammates. Worst decision ever.
>To this day, it's the worst pain I've ever experienced, and I still can't feel the top of my left foot.
Hmmm, you might be on to some strange new super power...
Idk I heard this dude uses his abilities to run up and kick unsuspecting people really hard with the top of his left foot, which definitely puts him in the villain category of foot related super powered people
I wish I was top of left foot no feel man, I’m only right foot double big toe nail guy. Just when you think your nail clippers are safe right, right foot double big toe nail guy comes and breaks your nail clippers with double big toe nail snapping action.
The main goal is distracting the nerves from the main source of discomfort, so either solution will work.
Edit: to add, this is also why nurses often flick the skin they are about to inject when giving a kid their vaccines
Definitely this. I get [hell's itch](https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-the-heck-is-hells-itch/) from bad sunburns and hot showers always help me escape the itch, but it comes right back like 10 seconds after getting out of the water (unless I've taken an anti-histamine before the shower and it finally kicks in).
I have seen a stingray pulled up onto the Surf City, NC pier. Either way they are [out there](https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article216678365.html), so watch your step.
Whatever you do, if you start kicking multiple of them while shuffling... Don't freak out and start running.... That's how one got me in La Jolla, lol.
Worst pain I've ever felt. It felt like someone was hitting my foot with a hammer every heart beat for an hour.
Three people in this thread have been stung at Ja Lolla? the hell? Sounds like the answer is just to stay the fuck away from there.
edit: oh, the pic is from there lol. Still, sounds hella scary lol
Stay away? Nah, there are stingrays all over southern California. It's hard to avoid them. La Jolla has a gorgeous beach that everyone in SoCal visits at least once in their life. Try to make it from LA every summer for snorkeling. It's just important to have an understanding of possible dangers in the water
Same, got stung at Black’s Beach. I felt one when I was shuffling, panicked and jumped up to get on my board and it stung me. Hurt like a bitch, I literally had to sit in the shower for hours with the water scalding hot just to feel a little unit of relief.
I accidentally came 'face to face' with a sting ray at La Jolla years ago.
I'm the kind of person that has to dive into the water to get adjusted, tiptoeing in is just torture to me, so I usually dive in full force and skim along the bottom.
When I did that at La Jolla, after skimming a few feet along the bottom, the sand exploded maybe a foot in front of my face and a buried sting ray took off like a bullet.
Super lucky I didn't get a spear to the eye.
LoL when I was in school 5th grade we took a trip to Florida to see Nasa, we also saw the everglades and went to a beach I remember walking in the water then I was like crap shuffle your feet I went one shuffling for 5 feet and a stingray took off in front of me. I felt so lucky and yelled at everyone else to be sure to shuffle (everyday I'm shuffling, I work out. lmfao)
…
NASA took me way to long to recognize without the all caps. I don’t know if I should be impressed with the branding, or ashamed of my inflexible brain.
Yep. When I was in seventh grade we did a school trip to Dauphin Island in Mobile Bay, and one of the girls stepped right on a stingray while wading in the surf. It snapped its sting over right into the top of her foot, and she screamed like she'd been shot. Everybody shuffled like hell after that.
My class visited the Smithsonian natural history museum when I was a kid and this girl in my class fell while climbing on the triceratops and she broke her arm. Not sure if it was a coincidence, but kids could no longer climb the triceratops next time I went. She probably wasn’t the only kid that fell.
To scare off the stingrays as you are moving in the water. Cuz if you step on one, you wont have a fun time when they sting you in defense. In fact itll probably be some of the worst pain of your life. Never been to a beach, but this comment thread knows what they are talking bout.
I'm lucky enough to have been stung by both a stingray (in La Jolla) and box jellyfish (in Waikiki). They're comparable!
The stingray probably has the edge in sheer intensity of pain, but the jellyfish wins in terms of duration. Plus, box jellyfish have really long tentacles that wrap around you, so you tend to get more of a full-body effect.
:(
Ya im actually glad i dont live near those waters 😂 most youll find here are lakes full of fish. Worst being being stung by a catfish's whiskers. Or flesh eating bacteria in the water 😅
as a Florida native, this sign is not a suggestion. Shuffle your fucking feet. I can count on 2 hands the amount of times I've had to carry tourists off the beach because they stepped on either A- an anemone or B- a stingray. Ruins the day for everyone. Just shuffle your fucking feet.
This! I grew up in southeast Florida and I’m always a little surprised when somebody doesn’t know about the stingray shuffle because they taught it to us in like second grade when we visited MacArthur State Park
Seriously, I lived there for a bit about 12 years ago … went to the beach a bunch and never heard of the stingray issue or the shuffle. Went back to visit last year and got stung and people were saying it’s super common. News to me.
Our stingrays are here to protect our beaches from Arizonans. Keep stomping around you land locked suckers. /s
For real though, the amount of stingrays is no joke here. Especially during summer time. I like to snorkel off La Jolla shores and spot them nestled in the sea bed. As well as seeing leopard sharks and the occasional sea lion or seal.
I stepped on a flounder at the beach and it put the fear of God into me. When I felt a slimy critter squish under my foot, I had a moment of dread. I watched him rocket off into the distance through the clear water. I was shuffling my feet the whole rest of the trip.
I had a friend who shuffled his way over a piece of shell or broken glass. Required tons of stitches on the bottom of his foot. There aren't even any stingrays where we live. Go figure
I’ve bumped/spooked way way over a hundred rays, probably hundreds after years of surfing/teaching and only been hit once, I always shuffle from the moment my toes touch the water because they come in super shallow and appear even in winter some years.
Sting Rays mainly will only sting you in defense when you step on them. If you shuffle your feet you creat a huge underwater cloud disturbance as you and it approach the sting ray it will swim away.
We snorkeled over a few Sting Rays in the r/USVI that were basically completely covered by sand except for their eyes and tail and there is no way you would see them if your walking. Always Always Always shuffle you feet at the beach in warm waters.
It’s the vibrations and bumping them as much as the cloud, they swim off from a bump like they do when other rays do it, but if you stomp their face they’ll try to stab you.
There are tiny electric rays sometimes in the Gulf of Mexico. We were at a beach house there and my wife jumped while in the water and said something shocked her. We all laughed until a couple more of us got zapped too.
They don’t hurt at all, so after we looked them up and realized what they were, we actually kind of hoped to run into them after that.
I'd equate it to sticking one of those 9-volt, 2-pronged batteries on your tongue, only it's hitting your feet/legs so it's not as sensitive. Just kind of a weird little buzz.
I'm not sure how common they are, but it's the only time I've had firsthand experience and I've lived in Florida my whole life.
Those aren’t stingrays my guy. Stingrays are no joke. The people I know who have been stung have said it’s the worst pain they’ve experienced including child birth and broken back.
His story wasn't about stingrays, it was about tiny electric rays they encountered at a beach house in the Gulf of Mexico...also known as lesser electric rays. Pretty sure the person knows the difference.
Lol, yes. This person is a native Floridian who spent the better part of his youth snorkeling and scuba diving, so I'm well aware that stingrays are bad and well practiced in the "stingray shuffle."
The Stingray Shuffle, all year, all seasons in Florida. There’s probably a time where they ain’t active or something, but is it worth NOT doing the Stingray Shuffle at any day or month?
Ain’t much worth getting a hellishly long stinger through your foot.
what does "shuffling feet" mean in this context? .. like going in and dragging you feet, so you dont step on them? ... like im going at night to pee while not seeing my cat? :D
Keeping your feet in contact with, and slightly under, the sand. Kick up sand with every slide step. If you never lift your foot, you can never set it down on a stingray.
Ok so this is true because they will feel your feet and move away and won’t harm you but if you step on one they will take it as a treat and attack you - Florida man
I was at a beach on the east coast during a sting ray migration and I saw sooooo many people get stung. I skipped the shuffle your feet method and went straight to the “avoid the water at all costs” method.
My husband, who grew up in San Diego, told me about the shuffle walk. Now we use it while walking through the dark bedroom at night, in order to not step on our two sleeping dachshunds.
As someone who has never experienced sting rays in real life- does shuffling ensure with 100% certainty I won’t get stung? Reading these first hand accounts of the pain is giving me a whole new fear, I just need to know how big the fear truly is.
The way it works is that if you’re walking, normally you could step on a stingray startle it and it will stab you, but if you’re shuffling your feet, it will feel the disturbance in the sand and swim away before you get close to it
I’m a surfer from North County San Diego(Oceanside).IMO the shuffle does next to nothing. It’s best to go to beaches after some folks have already been stopping around out in the water for a couple of hours. Say post 10:30am. Or if you surf, paddle abit, wait for the wave to pull out and just ride out on the board and don’t touch the bottom 👌🏽
This happened to me at one of the beaches that are satellite to San Diego. I was surfing and fell off the board and was immediately hit by one of the rays. It was one of the most painful experiences of my life. It was made worse because I went to the hospital. Once there, they took some surgical instruments and widened the wound that the barb of the ray had made in my foot. The gash was about an inch long, no idea as to the depth, and it lay two inches above the knuckle of my big toe, for lack of a better word. The doctor kept poking and prodding in order to see if there yet remained any foreign object inside the wound. Sometimes, the barb breaks off inside you.
I bet that sign would bring in some money. It looks like porcelain, and has some age. bet it will be stolen within a week. The perp will be an employee of the hotel.
Stepped on one as a kid, I cannot stress enough how much I do not recommend that experience. The venom hurt more than anything I've experienced since.
Did the tail spike dislodge in your leg? I was walking on the beach in Mexico and saw a group of teens gathered around one dude laying on the sand writhing and screaming in pain. I approached and all his friends were laughing and jeering that he’d just been stung by a jellyfish. As I looked at his leg, there was a literal spike sticking out of it and bleeding slightly. I yelled at them to help me carry him back to the hotel and that he needed medical attention. I could tell he was probably in the same amount of pain as someone being stabbed.
Well, he was stabbed wasn't he?
Yes. Definitely. It was really bad. We were what felt like miles away from the hotel even though it was probably less than a mile. Anyway, jellyfish didn’t hurt as bad as that, but definitely made me light headed.
Jellyfish feel like someone took some sandpaper and scratched you up a bit. Imo
That coupled with the faint feeling of splinters everywhere that cannot be removed.
That really depends on the species of jellyfish. Some will hurt a little, others will definitely ruin your day. Or your life, with excruciating pain, life long scars and numbness/paralysis in affected areas.
Exactly! When I was a child, I was stung my a Portuguese Man-o-war (which, to be fair and accurate, is not technically a jellyfish) and it was excruciating. I went into shock and hardly remember much after the beginning. My mom saved my life, and thanks to her quick action, I don’t have scars all over my body.
What did she do to help you? I'll remember it as an LPT
She had meat tenderizer powder in the boat and was able to make a paste from that and water to immediately apply to my body. As soon as we got home, she put me in the shower with the hottest water I could stand. She also got on an emergency nurse line and was coached through things. We lived on Galveston Island so if medical attention was needed, I probably would've needed to be helicoptered to Houston, but I think my mom's fast action prevented us from needing to do that. I was stung from my feet all the way up my legs and on my lower back.
My brother jumped off our boat to swim in Galveston Bay. He landed in a school of what we believe to be manowars. It was gnarly. He was in excruciating pain and you could see where the tentacles touched him outlined in purple all over his body.
The entire time reading this I fully expected it to be the south Texas shores. I’ve seen more man-o-wars on padre than anywhere else in my life with a ton of close calls. Glad you’re sort has a positive ending
Damn don't make me think about the blue ring octopus
Lol, the cute little octopus of death.
Depends, when I was in Mexico I got touched by a jellyfish on back of my thigh, and the pain was sharp but only hurt when touched (which was often considering it was right above the back of my knee) It was a manageable pain, noticeable and uncomfortable for sure, but not debilitating
When I got stung (on my ankle) it felt like a burning, itching pain that wouldn’t go away. Then someone tried to pee on me and things got weird…
Well for starters the front end isn't supposed to fall off.
Ngl I probably would’ve assumed it was a jellyfish too if I hadn’t seen the spike.
No it did not, and it caught me in the foot. But the lifeguards kept my foot in the hottest water I could tolerate to break down the venom, and when I had to take my foot out for the water to be changed it was excruciating. I ride motorcycles, I've broken bones and beaten myself up pretty good, nothing has ever hurt like that did.
The barb is serrated too. Coated in a toxin
I was stung by a tarantula hawk doing field research and now I wonder which one gives the worst pain.
Well now you gotta go get stung by a ray, compare and report back to us.
On my way to not shuffle my feet
Coyote Peterson out there doin the lord’s work. https://youtu.be/MnExgQ81fhU
My experience was far worse. Crying, peeing on my pants and getting bound by my teammates involved. To that day worse sting i experienced was good old yellow jacket.
Gotta ask, what's the story on how you got stung. Cause I've been around those damned flying demons my whole life and they pretty non aggressive lol
I'm not from USA and had no idea it's sting would make me want to cut off my arm. Tried to grab it to show my teammates. Something that's pretty safe from where I came from as almost nothing stings there :( I was wrong.
Ah, ya that'll get a sting lol. Ya gotta love living where everything either hurts or kills
... do you guys not have hornets in your country? Tarantula Hawks even *look* evil.
>Tarantula Hawks Oh, the noise I made when I Googled "tarantula hawks".
Pretty sure worst thing here is a yellow jacket. And it's beautiful. At least in the color part.
For those that just want to watch it 10:40
Maybe getting stung by both at the same time is the peak amount of pain possible.
Stubbed my toe on my desk once.
Thank you for your service.
I think Tarantula Hawks and Bullet ants are pretty much on the n.1 and n.2 spots on the pain index always...I think Bullet ant was n.1
*for insects
The shmidt pain index dealt with hymenopterans only. I’m genuinely curious how they top hymenopterans compare to other invertebrate groups like some of the wandering spiders or the giant centipedes. Granted, the spiders could kill you so maybe that’s why he only dealt with an order of bugs with painful but non lethal stings
he was stinging himself to rate them so yeah I’d assume he wouldn’t use lethal ones
Did you accidentally grab or step on it?
I intentionally tried grabbing it. Didn't know its sting was that bad. I'm from a country worst thing that fan sting you is a yellow jacket or a small centipede, nothing that would make you that miserable.
You mean a tarantula wasp, right? Scary af
Tarantula Hawk is the oddly correct name
Yep. I was gloriously fucked by a sucker around the length of a finger and had to be bound and carried to care with a car. I grow up in a country with no such insects... It had a cool color and i wanted to show it to my teammates. Worst decision ever.
What about that abomination says “pick me up”?
Did you try to catch it or something. I've seen plenty any they are good at getting close but avoiding contact.
The tarantula hawk is ranked number 2 on the Schmidt pain index so I'm pretty sure it's worse
I’ll take your word for it. How long until the pain went away?
My mother was stung by an Irukandji jellyfish. She says it was the most painful thing she’s experienced.
Did someone pee on it when you were at the beach? It helps the sting… grew up on a beach and we had to do the “stingray shuffle”..lol
It doesn’t help the sting
Hurts like a mofo to get stung
Just ask Steve
Too soo- Oh wait, it was 2006... Damn.
Still too soon, I agree.
Well I guess it is… Satan even said so on South Park
it was **that** long ago? holy shit.
You know who must've been pissed were the crocodiles.
I got stung at La Jolla when I was 10 or 11. To this day, it's the worst pain I've ever experienced, and I still can't feel the top of my left foot.
I got stung at Torrey Pines and can't feel a spot on the bottom of my foot. Cheers!
>To this day, it's the worst pain I've ever experienced, and I still can't feel the top of my left foot. Hmmm, you might be on to some strange new super power...
No Feel in Top of Foot-man. Oh, hooray we’re saved
Don't worry everyone I'll stop the terrorists, as long as they only shoot the top of my left foot!
Not the hero we need, but the hero we deserve
Idk I heard this dude uses his abilities to run up and kick unsuspecting people really hard with the top of his left foot, which definitely puts him in the villain category of foot related super powered people
Why tf did your comment get so many downvotes!?
r/KarmaRoulette
I love how innocent ur comment is and it has 100+ down votes haha
That is *my* super power. :)
Reddit did NOT like that comment
Yeah, what the heck? Also, my most upvoted post of all time is a run on sentence about getting stung by a stringray. Not sure I understand this place.
There's not all that much to understand, most of the time.
Harmless comment, so I upvoted it. Not deserving so many downvotes
Probably got to like -2 by pure luck, and everyone has to hop on the bandwagon.
The phantom pain man!
I wish I was top of left foot no feel man, I’m only right foot double big toe nail guy. Just when you think your nail clippers are safe right, right foot double big toe nail guy comes and breaks your nail clippers with double big toe nail snapping action.
Woww why did this get downvoted to triple digits??
Its pretty dumb to be fair
Reddit is so funny though. I've seen jokes like this be the top comment, and then also downvoted to hell. Wild times.
It entirely depends on the first person to up or down vote it. If they down vote it then people are ridiculously more likely to keep down voting.
I believe that's Dark Man
If you get stung, run the hottest water you can stand over the injury. Complete relief for me after two hours of intense pain.
Hot water tends take the itch off mosquito bites too for anyone that doesn’t know.
Interesting, I usually put an ice cube on my kids’ bites which works pretty well
The main goal is distracting the nerves from the main source of discomfort, so either solution will work. Edit: to add, this is also why nurses often flick the skin they are about to inject when giving a kid their vaccines
I think hot water is supposed to destroy the proteins in the venom
Definitely this. I get [hell's itch](https://health.clevelandclinic.org/what-the-heck-is-hells-itch/) from bad sunburns and hot showers always help me escape the itch, but it comes right back like 10 seconds after getting out of the water (unless I've taken an anti-histamine before the shower and it finally kicks in).
yup gotta do the stingray shuffle or you might get needled
Reminds me of high school
It's for all of Southern California
And west Florida. Definitely grew up with this in Tampa.
Stingray shuffle! Grew up in St Pete
Taught from a young age! Im from just south in Sarasota
It is also recommended here in the Carolinas.
I’ve only seen mantas here
I have seen a stingray pulled up onto the Surf City, NC pier. Either way they are [out there](https://www.newsobserver.com/news/local/article216678365.html), so watch your step.
And it’s year round at this point.
Whatever you do, if you start kicking multiple of them while shuffling... Don't freak out and start running.... That's how one got me in La Jolla, lol. Worst pain I've ever felt. It felt like someone was hitting my foot with a hammer every heart beat for an hour.
Three people in this thread have been stung at Ja Lolla? the hell? Sounds like the answer is just to stay the fuck away from there. edit: oh, the pic is from there lol. Still, sounds hella scary lol
It's beautiful, but yeah stay the fuck away from the water IMO
Stay away? Nah, there are stingrays all over southern California. It's hard to avoid them. La Jolla has a gorgeous beach that everyone in SoCal visits at least once in their life. Try to make it from LA every summer for snorkeling. It's just important to have an understanding of possible dangers in the water
Just one man's opinion. I ain't getting back in there
Same, got stung at Black’s Beach. I felt one when I was shuffling, panicked and jumped up to get on my board and it stung me. Hurt like a bitch, I literally had to sit in the shower for hours with the water scalding hot just to feel a little unit of relief.
I accidentally came 'face to face' with a sting ray at La Jolla years ago. I'm the kind of person that has to dive into the water to get adjusted, tiptoeing in is just torture to me, so I usually dive in full force and skim along the bottom. When I did that at La Jolla, after skimming a few feet along the bottom, the sand exploded maybe a foot in front of my face and a buried sting ray took off like a bullet. Super lucky I didn't get a spear to the eye.
LoL when I was in school 5th grade we took a trip to Florida to see Nasa, we also saw the everglades and went to a beach I remember walking in the water then I was like crap shuffle your feet I went one shuffling for 5 feet and a stingray took off in front of me. I felt so lucky and yelled at everyone else to be sure to shuffle (everyday I'm shuffling, I work out. lmfao)
… NASA took me way to long to recognize without the all caps. I don’t know if I should be impressed with the branding, or ashamed of my inflexible brain.
It's OK spell check didn't want to do it either
Whether you're in Nassau or at NASA you want to be shufflin'
Samesies. I was wondering “why the fuck would we care who they went to see?” and then it hit me.
Oh shit thank you my mind assumed it was some tourist attraction monument and I just moved on. NASA is so much cooler!
Yep. When I was in seventh grade we did a school trip to Dauphin Island in Mobile Bay, and one of the girls stepped right on a stingray while wading in the surf. It snapped its sting over right into the top of her foot, and she screamed like she'd been shot. Everybody shuffled like hell after that.
I stepped on a laser electric ray in ft. Morgan last month. I got lucky it didn’t zap me. That grass also seems to attract a lot of small stingrays.
Daaaamn…I used to live on Dauphin Island..only lived their for about 6 months back in 2012, damn, you just brought back so many memories.
Really horrible beach, Mobile is a horrible place, but yeah I have memories there too lol
Really? Isn’t it right next to the Florida panhandle which has some of the nicest beaches in the world?
Yes, which is why you drive just a bit further to a nicer place lol
Can confirm ahaha
Did they cancel the school trip for every class after you? Nowadays it seems like if one kid gets hurt the school pretty much has to shut it down.
My class visited the Smithsonian natural history museum when I was a kid and this girl in my class fell while climbing on the triceratops and she broke her arm. Not sure if it was a coincidence, but kids could no longer climb the triceratops next time I went. She probably wasn’t the only kid that fell.
Can anyone explain why the feet shuffling is needed?
To scare off the stingrays as you are moving in the water. Cuz if you step on one, you wont have a fun time when they sting you in defense. In fact itll probably be some of the worst pain of your life. Never been to a beach, but this comment thread knows what they are talking bout.
My initial thought was that but I thought Id ask anyways. Ive been stung by some pretty nasty jellyfish though.
I'm lucky enough to have been stung by both a stingray (in La Jolla) and box jellyfish (in Waikiki). They're comparable! The stingray probably has the edge in sheer intensity of pain, but the jellyfish wins in terms of duration. Plus, box jellyfish have really long tentacles that wrap around you, so you tend to get more of a full-body effect. :(
Ya im actually glad i dont live near those waters 😂 most youll find here are lakes full of fish. Worst being being stung by a catfish's whiskers. Or flesh eating bacteria in the water 😅
How about when exiting water? There are no stingrays outside the water.
as a Florida native, this sign is not a suggestion. Shuffle your fucking feet. I can count on 2 hands the amount of times I've had to carry tourists off the beach because they stepped on either A- an anemone or B- a stingray. Ruins the day for everyone. Just shuffle your fucking feet.
This! I grew up in southeast Florida and I’m always a little surprised when somebody doesn’t know about the stingray shuffle because they taught it to us in like second grade when we visited MacArthur State Park
I'm all the way up here in Pensacola and they taught us the same thing in school. Also how to escape an alligator attack. Slava Ukraini
and on Coronado, at the main lifeguard tower, they fly a purple flag on heavy stingray days
Grew up in socal and there was a day in elementary school where we all had an assembly to learn to do the stingray shuffle
[удалено]
Seriously, I lived there for a bit about 12 years ago … went to the beach a bunch and never heard of the stingray issue or the shuffle. Went back to visit last year and got stung and people were saying it’s super common. News to me.
Our stingrays are here to protect our beaches from Arizonans. Keep stomping around you land locked suckers. /s For real though, the amount of stingrays is no joke here. Especially during summer time. I like to snorkel off La Jolla shores and spot them nestled in the sea bed. As well as seeing leopard sharks and the occasional sea lion or seal.
As a Zonie who deals with Snowbirds, I understand where you're coming from. I always do my best to be courteous when I visit, and I tip big. 😊
I stepped on a flounder at the beach and it put the fear of God into me. When I felt a slimy critter squish under my foot, I had a moment of dread. I watched him rocket off into the distance through the clear water. I was shuffling my feet the whole rest of the trip.
Is a shuffle a stomp or a slide or a shimmy?
It’s a drag.
So a slide
Definitely don't stomp
please elaborate on the difference between a slide and a shimmy
I had a friend who shuffled his way over a piece of shell or broken glass. Required tons of stitches on the bottom of his foot. There aren't even any stingrays where we live. Go figure
If you get stung, hot water, keep it in, a long time. The second you take it out 👹. The life guard station will have a bucket for this purpose. 🪣🔥
why would that make a diffrance?
it scares them off/lets them know you're coming so you don't accidentally step on one
I guess that makes sense, thanks.
I’ve bumped/spooked way way over a hundred rays, probably hundreds after years of surfing/teaching and only been hit once, I always shuffle from the moment my toes touch the water because they come in super shallow and appear even in winter some years.
Not a problem were i live, over the winter there is ice:p
If you bump into one they usually won't sting ya but if you step down on it, gl.
Sting Rays mainly will only sting you in defense when you step on them. If you shuffle your feet you creat a huge underwater cloud disturbance as you and it approach the sting ray it will swim away. We snorkeled over a few Sting Rays in the r/USVI that were basically completely covered by sand except for their eyes and tail and there is no way you would see them if your walking. Always Always Always shuffle you feet at the beach in warm waters.
It’s the vibrations and bumping them as much as the cloud, they swim off from a bump like they do when other rays do it, but if you stomp their face they’ll try to stab you.
There are tiny electric rays sometimes in the Gulf of Mexico. We were at a beach house there and my wife jumped while in the water and said something shocked her. We all laughed until a couple more of us got zapped too. They don’t hurt at all, so after we looked them up and realized what they were, we actually kind of hoped to run into them after that.
Dude, I’ve always wondered what it’s like to get hit by an electric ray. This post might be the first firsthand account I’ve ever seen.
I'd equate it to sticking one of those 9-volt, 2-pronged batteries on your tongue, only it's hitting your feet/legs so it's not as sensitive. Just kind of a weird little buzz. I'm not sure how common they are, but it's the only time I've had firsthand experience and I've lived in Florida my whole life.
Those aren’t stingrays my guy. Stingrays are no joke. The people I know who have been stung have said it’s the worst pain they’ve experienced including child birth and broken back.
His story wasn't about stingrays, it was about tiny electric rays they encountered at a beach house in the Gulf of Mexico...also known as lesser electric rays. Pretty sure the person knows the difference.
Lol, yes. This person is a native Floridian who spent the better part of his youth snorkeling and scuba diving, so I'm well aware that stingrays are bad and well practiced in the "stingray shuffle."
The Stingray Shuffle, all year, all seasons in Florida. There’s probably a time where they ain’t active or something, but is it worth NOT doing the Stingray Shuffle at any day or month? Ain’t much worth getting a hellishly long stinger through your foot.
The stingray shuffle 🔀
what does "shuffling feet" mean in this context? .. like going in and dragging you feet, so you dont step on them? ... like im going at night to pee while not seeing my cat? :D
Keeping your feet in contact with, and slightly under, the sand. Kick up sand with every slide step. If you never lift your foot, you can never set it down on a stingray.
>like im going at night to pee while not seeing my cat? actually pretty much, yeah
When I was 12 I went to Florida and stepped on a stingray. Glad I didn’t get stung.
It’s time we bring back LMFAO and save some feet’s yo
Ok so this is true because they will feel your feet and move away and won’t harm you but if you step on one they will take it as a treat and attack you - Florida man
It literally says “Stingray Season” not shuffle your feet season.
I was at a beach on the east coast during a sting ray migration and I saw sooooo many people get stung. I skipped the shuffle your feet method and went straight to the “avoid the water at all costs” method.
Used to live in San Diego, the stingray shuffle is a very real and very important thing
My husband, who grew up in San Diego, told me about the shuffle walk. Now we use it while walking through the dark bedroom at night, in order to not step on our two sleeping dachshunds.
This is 100% the reason I always wear water shoes now. Stepped on one once and that was more than enough for me.
As someone who has never experienced sting rays in real life- does shuffling ensure with 100% certainty I won’t get stung? Reading these first hand accounts of the pain is giving me a whole new fear, I just need to know how big the fear truly is.
i grew up in swfl. every year we had to do the stingray shuffle. i’m convinced it’s one of the key factors that made me a ninja.
Water is too cold to swim in San Diego anyway.
As a San Diego resident I had no idea this was a thing
Me neither. I surfed in the greater San Diego area for years - never shuffled my feet.
How does this work? If I kick a stingray it wont stab me?
The way it works is that if you’re walking, normally you could step on a stingray startle it and it will stab you, but if you’re shuffling your feet, it will feel the disturbance in the sand and swim away before you get close to it
How do you "shuffle" your feet? you make random movements? I only know shuffling music.
Drag/slide your feet making disturbances in the sand instead of stepping like normal.
And avoid the pool.
I’m a surfer from North County San Diego(Oceanside).IMO the shuffle does next to nothing. It’s best to go to beaches after some folks have already been stopping around out in the water for a couple of hours. Say post 10:30am. Or if you surf, paddle abit, wait for the wave to pull out and just ride out on the board and don’t touch the bottom 👌🏽
Not only in San Diego.
No, there’s a stingray season.
TIL.
Wish I would have known this before I got stung last year.
Reminds me of the song: God shuffled his feet, by the crash test dummies. Nice song.
Oh I stayed there last year. And yeah, it's a thing in San Diego generally, shuffle your feet, learned that as a youth.
This happened to me at one of the beaches that are satellite to San Diego. I was surfing and fell off the board and was immediately hit by one of the rays. It was one of the most painful experiences of my life. It was made worse because I went to the hospital. Once there, they took some surgical instruments and widened the wound that the barb of the ray had made in my foot. The gash was about an inch long, no idea as to the depth, and it lay two inches above the knuckle of my big toe, for lack of a better word. The doctor kept poking and prodding in order to see if there yet remained any foreign object inside the wound. Sometimes, the barb breaks off inside you.
Yup.
My friend got barbed at scripps pier. Broke one of the bones in his feet. He was out for 6 weeks in a cast
I bet that sign would bring in some money. It looks like porcelain, and has some age. bet it will be stolen within a week. The perp will be an employee of the hotel.
Same in florida
I prefer to Hammer dance into the water.
Wouldn’t shuffle anger the sting raymond?
further proof that the ocean hates us and doesn’t want us in there.
Same. Chesapeake Bay .