Delaware's beaches have become a literal minefield of jellyfish this summer, and not the fun, bobbing-in-the-water kind. An unusually high number of these gelatinous blobs are crowding the coast, stinging lifeguards and beachgoers alike, and forcing some to reconsider their ocean-swimming plans entirely.
Beach safety patrols are reporting hundreds of stings per day as environmental factors - warmer waters, hot and dry conditions, and water circulation that's apparently just right for jellyfish - conspire to create a jellyfish bonanza. The creatures have been spotted at South Bethany Beach, Rehoboth Beach, Dewey Beach, and Lewes Beach, and they're not being shy about it.
Nico Caceres, Rehoboth Beach patrol captain, put it bluntly: "The jellyfish for the past couple weeks have been very plentiful… The type of stings we're seeing this summer, we haven't really seen in past summers." Caceres, who has been stung "plenty of times" himself, notes that while past stings typically lasted 30 to 45 minutes, this summer's are sticking around for an entire day. "We have been seeing a lot of smaller children who actually end up vomiting a lot," he added, painting a picture that's both concerning and slightly vomit-inducing.
Lifeguards are also avoiding the water, not because they've closed it, but because no one wants to get zapped. "It's pretty much a guarantee you'll get stung if you go," Caceres said, noting his team has recorded between 150 and 200 stings a day since the end of July. Over at Lewes Beach, lifeguard Braden Jones reports an average of 100 stings a day, peaking in the afternoon. He describes the sensation as a "stinging pain" that then gets itchy - because of course it does.
State officials are warning beachgoers to watch for four species: lion's mane, Atlantic sea nettle, moon jellyfish, and sea walnut. If stung, they advise rinsing with vinegar, then applying hot water or a warm towel. And no, peeing on it won't help - officials explicitly caution that it can actually worsen the pain. Sorry, old wives' tale.
Chris Petrone, marine advisory service director at Delaware Sea Grant, attributes the jellyfish influx to a "perfect storm" of conditions: warming air and water temperatures, drought-induced salinity increases, seasonal winds, and water circulation patterns. And as climate change continues to heat things up and droughts become more frequent, this could become the new normal. Plus, the quiet hurricane season hasn't helped - those systems typically break up jellyfish populations and churn up cooler waters, but they've been MIA this year.
Some beachgoers are simply giving up. Kristen Zerby, a Delaware resident, stayed ashore at Lewes Beach, calling the situation "disappointing." "My boys and my husband are down at the waterline just to feel the water, but it's disappointing that you can't go in," she said. "I'm not taking that chance… I've been to the Delaware beaches every year of my life, and I've never seen it so empty."
Meanwhile, on the other coast, a marine heatwave in southern California is driving unusually large numbers of stingrays closer to shore, seeking warmer waters. In Huntington Beach alone, the fire department reported at least 240 stingray incidents last month. Because if it's not jellyfish, it's stingrays - nature really is out to get us this summer.