One Day in Thailand, This Happened…
Ko Phi Phi Scuba Diving and Swimming…with Stings
“Out already?” Tom asks as I sit down on the beach towel, my body and hair still dripping wet from the warm sea I had just been swimming in.
“Something was stinging me,” I say as I put my sunglasses on, still feeling a bit confused about what I’d just encountered in the water.
Tom gives me a doubtful look. Despite how happy I get whenever I’m in the ocean and despite the fact that I’ve pretty much wanted to be a mermaid since I saw Disney’s The Little Mermaid when I was in elementary school, Tom knows that I can also be a little over-paranoid about the ocean and the creatures lurking in its shadows.
“I’m serious!” I insist indignantly. I examine my leg where I felt the stinging and see no marks. “It didn’t hurt badly and I didn’t see any jellyfish, but I figured I should get out just in case.”
Tom nods and mentions he didn’t notice anything when he had been swimming earlier.
We’re at the end of Ko Phi Phi Leh beach under a rocky overhang. The massive crowds that flock to this beach every day haven’t pervasively reached this end of the beach yet, so we’re enjoying a – slightly – more peaceful and less crowded atmosphere, which extends into sea water curving like a “J” against end of the sand where the earth juts up into a vertical rock wall. A half-dozen snorkelers are bobbing in the water next to the rock wall, floating into little coves in the rocks. I wonder if they are getting stung or if I am just imagining things.
The next day, I’m happily about to run into the ocean again. This time from a beach next to our hotel on Ko Phi Phi. Just like the beach on Ko Phi Phi Leh, the water is perfect; clear, calm, salty and buoyant, and glimmering in shades of teal.
I dive under the water and come up in all my Princess Ariel glory and wave at Tom, still sitting on the beach, the green peaks of Ko Phi Phi jutting up behind him against the nearly cloudless blue sky. I smile and push back with my feet, flopping onto my back. I spread my arms and legs out and take a deep breath, floating on the water without barely any moving. My ears gently sink just beneath the waves and block out the noise of the atmosphere. And that’s when I feel it.
A dull stinging sensation on my calf. I splash back onto my feet so I’m standing on the ocean floor and then feel a similar sting on my wrist. I quickly spin around in the water, searching for a clear blob in the water that would indicate a jellyfish is the culprit, but I don’t see anything. Ok, I’m not imagining this. What the heck? Another sting appears on my thigh and despite the fact that it is more annoying than painful, I move toward shore.
“I got stung again!” I tell Tom.
“That weird,” he says and rubs my back sympathetically as I sit down on the towel in a huff, bummed that my mermaid time got interrupted.
I get even more annoyed a short while later when Tom goes for a swim and doesn’t notice any stings.
Something stingy is out there in the waters of Ko Phi Phi. I am sure of it.
Less than 24 hours later I breathe rhythmically as I see the first sun streams shine into the water and slowly ascend until I surface into the bright sunlight. I take my regulator out and smile at Tom who surfaces next to me.
“Great dive!” I exclaim. “How cool was that big, fat, red fish on the bottom?”
“It was great,” Tom agrees. “But something kept stinging me.”
My eyes widen. “I told you!”
He grins. “I believed you.” He pulls his goggles down around his neck. “But seriously, what is it?”
We board the dive boat a few minutes later and as we’re stripping off all our dive equipment, our new British friend, who we conversed with on the way to the dive spot, comes back onboard and shrugs out of his tank and BCD next to us.
“How was your dive?” he asks?
We exchange our favorite aspects of the dive and as he’s unzipping his half-wetsuit, he comments, “Glad I at least had this on. Something was stinging me down there.”
I smack Tom on the arm. He grabs my hand and laughs. “Us too,” he says.
A Dive Master has the Ko Phi Phi Stinging Water Answer
Just then, one of the Ko Phi Phi scuba diving dive masters comes over next to us and I seize the opportunity. “Is there some invisible jellyfish or something down there stinging everyone?” I ask.
He shakes his head, his shaggy, blonde hair swirling in damp clumps as he does so. “It’s a type of coral,” he responds in his Australian accent. “It stings. That’s why we wear full wetsuits.” By “we” he meant him and the other dive masters. All of us on the dive tour were rented half wetsuits by the dive shop, providing prime stinging area on our arms and lengths. How nice of them.
“Told you something was stinging me,” I whisper to Tom.
He wraps his arm around my shoulders. “You were right,” he says.
Now those are words I like to hear. Stinging coral, on the other hand, not so much.
Been there in the water today. I had these stings with my wife. The strange thing is that two days ago we swimmed with no issues but I noticed two days ago the sea was very calm. Today it was a little rough. I don’t know if the rough waves makes the suspected creatures move in the water. And I noticed very small red dots at the site of the stinging over both my skin and my wife’s skin. Probably a very miner bleeding after a sting. Not so dangerous. The stinging sensation disappeared after a few minutes but the small red dots stayed for about half a day.
I love Thailand, the islands, the people, the foods, …., fantastic!
I always get stung whenever swimming in the sea in Thailand but nowhere else in the world. My girlfriend never gets stung. I sometimes have a really bad rash after getting in out of the water. I was told it was sea lice and that they must really hate me !
Hi there!
I’ve just returned from a trip to Phuket and Phi Phi that involved a lot of snorkeling. I know for a fact that I was bitten at least twice by an aggressive little fish that came charging toward me several times. But that isn’t the worst. I now have a burning sensation on my feet, legs and arms. Has anybody experienced similar symptoms after being in the water there? I wonder if it might be due to sea mites (as someone suggested), or an allergic reaction to something.
Ha! That wouldn’t have been as much fun to write. 😉
Couldnt you summarise all this Neverending story into one simple sentence?!
“it a type of coral” should have done the job 🙂
I had the same experience – just got back from Thailand and wanted to research what that stinging was! And my husband did not feel it either! What is up with that?! When I didn’t see any marks on my body I went back in. A few other tourists on our boat trip said it was “plankton”? So strange!
What is the deal with husbands not getting stung?! 🙂 It is definitely strange how some people (like myself, apparently) seem to be more sensitive to them.
So glad I’m not the only one who is seemingly targeted by them! We had them in Bali on our honeymoon while snorkeling and now again in Thailand, but my husband never really got stung. I worried I was allergic to the water or something.
Haha! I can relate as I couldn’t figure out why I was noticing it, but my husband wasn’t, until we get scuba diving.
Oh, thank God! I thought I have some hidden sea allergy. Lol
Thanks for the information, Gi! Once I found out the stinging was harmless, it made it much easier to go in the water. At first, I didn’t know what it was, which is always a bit scary!
hi,
I was just browsing about the stinging creatures in the waters around Phuket, Phi Phi, etc. and found your story. And also found the explanation to what they are.
No, it is not a coral, it can be 2 things: either leftover jellyfish stingers or sea mites, but more often it is the sea mites. I managed to see one, after it got to me sitting half way on the sand, and half way in the water – it is extremely tiny and transparent 🙂 If you come to these waters more often, you get used to these bites, they are just annoying, not dangerous (unless one has some special health issues, maybe). And, as my Thai step-mom told us, they are the reason why local people don’t really like to swim in the sea too much 🙂
I read about it here: http://www.knowphuket.com/beaches/main-map.htm
In Krabi and Phuket (some hidden beaches) situation is worst. I dont think its a kinda coral. Very nasty invisible stings all over your body one another until you go mad and run out. If huge organic load exist then stings are there. Still wondering the cause.
Hard to know for sure, but it could definitely have been the crazy stinging coral!
I was on Phi Phi in June 2012, we went out on a boat to a small secluded beach about a couple of miles down the coast from the port side of the beach. I was swimming in the open water by the cliff and something stung my hand. I kind of remember seeing something blue and mushroom shaped in the corner of my eye (I could of imagined this though), it felt like a nettle sting but worse. I thought it must of been a jellyfish but reading this I’m not too sure.
That is a good question! Maybe they like messing with tourists. 😉
Little Mermaid or Happy Feet, I would have jumped out of the water after the first sting.
But how come they (dive masters) did not warn you regarding this in the first place?
But what a lovely place.