A strong NW pacific swell has pushed huge stinging brown nettle jellyfish into San Francisco bay. These are quite rare. One swimmer in our group got stung a couple weeks back. He is fine, but it seemed pretty painful.
The only real danger the jellies present, aside from a painful sting, is the potential of an allergic reaction. Unfortunately, you don't know if you are allergic until you are stung. Somewhere in the middle of the bay this morning, I weighed the risk of drowning from experiencing a severe allergic reaction while swimming against voluntarily subjecting myself to a sting to see what happens. By the end of the swim, I was searching the beach for a jelly to see where I stand.
Luckily, there were no jellies to be found.
Seems like a pretty dumb idea now.
Anyway, it seems nature is taking care of the problem. Apparently, these jellyfish are the favorite treats of leatherback turtles. Also stranger to San Francisco bay, the leatherbacks have been coming into the bay to feast on the jellies.
How cool is that?
