Jellyfish

A friend from Hawaii contacted me this morning and wrote that he had been stung by a jellyfish. The welt crossed his chest and extended to his arm. He wanted to know what to use to diminish the sting. Years ago I'd read that meat tenderizer was made from papaya and the papaya enzymes broke down the stinging cells that were injected into the skin by the jellyfish tentacles. Recently another friend who was swimming off tropical islands got stung by a jellyfish, and he said the locals put papaya skins, the part that had been attached to the fruit, on his skin, and that seemed to help reduce the sting. I've also heard that some people use vinegar to reduce the sting.

Perspective Catalina Channel Swimmers:

A swimmer who is training to swim across the Catalina Channel asked if it is better to acclimate to cool water by doing double workouts, or by doing one long swim. I think that it doesn't matter. The thing that open water swimmers need to do is to increase the exposure to cool water and it doesn't matter if it is multiple times in a day or one long swim.