Sickest session at Cypress

[Unimog Bob]

Thanks for helping out so much when it happened Erick, as well as Dr. C.
I am taking your guy's advice of not letting the site of entry heal up, and took a small knife and re-opened the wound a little and let it bleed. It is still sore today and a tad swollen. Re-opening the wound let much of the fluid off, relieving the pressure and helping to reduce the swelling a little.

I went fishing yesterday with a Podiatrist. He sees this stuff on occasion and said water as hot as you can take it is the best course of action, so that seems unanimous.
Oh - one tarpon, one big shark and don't kite in the Egmont Key channel right now.

[BigR]

That sucks about the stingray sting scott

hope you feel better soon , at least the fish seem to be biting

heal up and we'll see ya' back on the water in no time.

[Unimog Bob]

Thanks Raul

It's back to normal now. Going out (fishing) again tomorrow night.
Saw at least 200 'poons last time out. Pretty crazy.

[BigR]

let me know the good spots sometime, I have a more than worthy sportfishing boat now , esp. this side of the bay or sooo

[mkelly08]

My wife and I got stung last month about 3 days apart. She got hit first and was in serious pain ( about snapped my wrist while grinding her teeth during the car ride home ). 3 days later I got hit walking out to get her board. I have a new found respect for my wifes pain tolerance now... we both were somewhat functional about 2 - 3 hours later. We joke about it now that its over but you can see us walking more cautiously at Bald Point

[Danimal8199]

Originally Posted by Unimog Bob

Saw at least 200 'poons last time out. Pretty crazy.

I need some poon too, where did you see all of this??

[Citispider]

Oh man... all this info is useful. I've seen a few at Matheson's pass right by me. I guess i'll be standing still when i see them swim by. But at times when walking it could be difficult to see them.

[Unimog Bob]

That's the real problem, unfortunately, is that you most likely won't see the one that gets you, if one does, for several reasons. Mainly imo is that if it's not submerged under sand/mud, you won't/can't step on him.

I was actually wearing polarized glasses that day, and saw a bunch of them scurry away from a buried/hidden position before I got stung. Once I saw them scurrying, I made everyone else aware that they were in the area and to take precautions. They were concentrated pretty close to shore btw, less than 30 yards from the shoreline. They were very numerous.
We all starting shuffling, including me, upon realizing we were in a stingray "mine field". Within ten seconds I was hit.
I was hit within 10 feet of the shoreline. The ray that hit me was totally submerged and I could not see him. That was the irony to me, that given how many hours I have spent walking in shallow water, the one time I see a bunch AND take precautions, I am hit within seconds. Just goes to show, imo, that sometimes it's just a cold deck and you can't win despite your actions. Actually, I was hit on the top of the foot, not bottom, thanks to shuffling. I understand the bottom of the foot is worse.... so......

Hope no one else gets stung.

[robertovillate]

The day I got hit I knew they were there, I was looking and shuffling...but then BAM!

Believe me I was looking and shuffling a lot more after that first hit, and then WHAM!! #2.

I now use a 8' long walking probe (with a line and float) in an attempt to clear the "mines" when teaching, and I make the student use it when they walk out without the board while I ride back upwind.

It's not fun explaining to students that there are stingrays and that YES they will sting you if you step on one.

I figure if I get stung again I am out of commission for 2 weeks minimum, paying for a Doctors bill and antibiotics, plus loss of work. Get's expensive, not to mention the pain. Aside from lack of consistent wind this is another reason I don't like teaching in FL after May 1...the probability of encounters with stingrays is too high once the water gets really warm! When I ride during April and May I make sure I look very carefully where I stop, and often let the board sink to the bottom before taking my feet out of the straps.

That's one nice thing about Lake Michigan - no stingrays, sharks, urchins, stinging corals, jellyfish...but the water is COLD, still in the low 50's now, but great wind!

[Unimog Bob]

Just got back from riding. It was sweet.

Okay... so this morning I went in and talked with a few of the rangers at Ft. DeSoto and talked with Jim Wilson for about 45 minutes. Here are some facts (many blew my mind).

In the last month, North Beach has averaged 6 people stung per day on the week days.
On the weekends, North Beach averages 12 people stung... per day. That's just NB... not all of SPB or anything.

To me, these numbers are pretty crazy. I was guessing 3 per day on the weekend when I went in to ask. Jim told me at one point in time 2 weekends ago that they had 17 people at once receiving aid for being stung by a ray.... INSANE!!

Other numbers of interest. Ft. DeSoto receives more visitors per year than the number of visitors to the top 3 State Parks combined. Ft. DeSoto has more annual visitors than Yellow Stone National Park. I knew the place was hopping (which is why I asked), but would not have guessed they received THAT many visitors. Those numbers are not guesses, they are hard numbers based on toll booth stats and other census techniques used by the park. The actual number is a little over 3 million visitors annually.