Sayulita Ocean Hazards
We had just met one of our neighbours, a young American couple who owned a clothing shop in town. We didn’t even get her name as she was in a hurry to finish mopping the floors before her boyfriend returned from his afternoon of surfing.
Barely 20 minutes later, we heard the sound of a door slam and a deep voice groaning loudly from inside the camper, followed by scurrying and her cries of “shit, oh shit!” The next thing we knew, the girl tore out of the trailer towards a neighbouring camper as her boyfriend rounded the corner, bent over double. He continued moaning and was swaying slightly. We were horrified and knew something was terribly wrong. Dave ran to hold him up while his girlfriend searched for someone to drive them to the hospital. Apparently, her boyfriend had gotten stung by a large jellyfish, which had completely wrapped itself around his torso and legs. He began to spasm and drool, still moaning incoherently and it was apparent he was going into shock. Dave sat him down on the bumper of a car and kept talking to him. He managed to get a few coherent words out of him before a neighbour pulled up in a van to take them to the clinic.
Dave was really shaken from speaking with our neighbour. He had never seen someone so scared in his life. We never did see them again, but were told he was stabilized and taken to a hospital in nearby Puerto Vallarta. I’ve read that jellyfish stings can be terribly painful, but not generally lethal. On the other hand, toxic shock can be fatal, so we were relieved to hear he was receiving medical care.
