We set out for our snorkelling adventure today. The sea is starting to warm up now but we were outfitted with wetsuits to make the water temperature more comfortable. We were excited but Sean was skeptical as he is a bit obsessed with jellyfish and has started researching them. He is extremely vigilant when in the water and yesterday there were quite a number along the shore of Paradise Bay (consequently he did not swim). You can see how preoccupied Sean is in the picture below.
The most common species of jellyfish in Malta this time of year is the mauve stinger (pelagia noctiluca).They roam close to the surface of the water, and while they aren’t lethal, their stings are quite uncomfortable. When we arrived at our destination – a very cool collapsed cave – the jelly fish were everywhere outside the cave. There were dozens of them!!! With the promise of fewer in the cave, we decided to take our chances and wade through the jellyfish into the cave. Apparently, they can’t penetrate the palm of your hand (we have heard this before). So the idea is that you try to push them aside with your hands. For anyone who knows Sean, this was absolutely a non-starter! He stayed on the boat!
I have to say that once in the cave, there will still lots of jelly fish and I was starting to get a bit panicked. They were unavoidable! I went directly back to the boat and managed to avoid getting stung. Daniel and Michael weren’t so lucky…both were stung in the face (Daniel on the lips but he was very brave about it). The other two snorkelers were also stung (I guess I was very lucky). Sean managed to resist saying “I told you so” to all of us.
We tried another spot. But there were still jellyfish. Two people tried again (including Michael). Daniel considered it but then changed his mind…I don’t blame him. He spent the time instead catching and inspecting the jellyfish, which Sean found quite fascinating.
Our guides were very experienced divers and they get stung all of the time – they showed us some of their war wounds. Apparently, you get used to it. Even though snorkeling was a bust, we enjoyed a nice boat ride while our guides regaled us with stories from scuba diving around ship wrecks and submarine wrecks.
I’m with Sean.
What an adventure! I’m with Sean
Jellyfish are beautiful to look at but
I wouldn’t be interested in swimming with them.
Eeeeek! I’m totally with Sean too. I can’t believe Micheal and Daniel got stung! Hope it was still an awesome experience!
I’m also with Sean, and I hope that you too will feel better soon. Jellyfish are beautiful,but it hurts to get stu
…stung.
Daniel – you’re a trooper. Hope the snorkeling war wounds have all healed by now.