This day marked the first time we were left entirely to our own devices.
We started like normal with screens and food.
Then we loaded up all of our things and dragged them to the beach. We still couldn't get in the water. But that didn't stop others from swimming. The beach was swarmed with screaming children who just got stung by jellyfish. Seriously, if you had never been to the beach before, you would think it was a place to torture children. We saw at least 2 dozen jellyfish victims in the first 90 minutes we were there.
W declared it a sandcastle day
And! We both bought folding chairs so we could sit by the water and actually see our children-- this was a totally new thing for us, and we sort of liked it.
Dorothy and I supervised the sand castling
While the boys worked and fought.
Queen!
Dorothy likes nothing more than sitting in a dirt hole.
Post-lunch swim!
We went back to the beach to get our things from our orange chairs, and we noticed that people had finally gotten the memo to stay the heck out of the water. We assumed because of the jellyfish. But then! The people in the chairs next to us told us that there were SHARKS feeding right off the beach and the lifeguards made everyone get out. OH MY GOD.
We went back to the Frog for dinner
And we closed out the night shopping for souvenirs and taking these ridiculous pictures:
Jack's is the best, obvs.
Ah... jellyfish sting. It’s a right of passage for an ocean loving kid. I’ve also had stings from stinging nettles (VA Beach) and fire coral (Guam). Since the fire coral left a scar that took years to fade, I vote that has the worst sting.
ReplyDeleteHowever, way more miserable than jellyfish and stinging nettles are the baby crabs (Duck, NC). My family rented a house on the Outer Banks and I was desperate to get in the ocean (my love of being in water is so strong that my Mom still calls me “Baby Duck.”). We were the first ones there. After about 45 minutes I visited my parents at the blanket for a snack. Suddenly I started itching so badly it felt like my crotch was burning. I was 12. I knew that I couldn’t scratch my crotch in public so I just wiggled in agony. Everywhere my bathing suit touched was itching but the worst was the crotch. My family thought I was being dramatic and overreacting as I wiggled and cried. Then my brother got out of the water. Within a few minutes he felt it too... and started wailing about the pain and discomfort.
We refused to go back in the ocean and received a long lecture about how expensive this vacation was and if we didn’t go in the ocean we were never coming back. I went in for a second time. In the ocean, I felt no pain so I stayed in... for a few hours. Now my parents wanted me out of the water for lunch. Again the itching and burning started up within a few minutes. I pointed out other groups looking as miserable as my brother and me. Finally a life guard appeared.
Turns out that it was blue crab birthing season and the tide had brought in thousands of microscopic baby crabs. They didn’t bother us in the ocean but as the sun dried our skin they started to die and were biting us. The reason we noticed it more where our swim suits touched is because that stayed wet longer so more baby crabs gathered there. And where does a suit stay wet the longest? Your crotch!!! Ack!!! Needless to say, we stayed out of the ocean for a couple of days until the babies floated back out to sea.
And yes, I have been back in the ocean since.