White jellyfish flag on Poniente yesterday

The jellyfish alert is still on across beaches in Benidorm - which is now in its third week. The invasion of the "compass jellyfish" is in fact a common species that lives in the waters of the Mediterranean, but generally never seen at this time of the year.... normally it is July/August time. The council have even been compelled to raise a "Jellyfish" warning flag  - white with jellyfish picture alongside the yellow or green safe to swim flag.

I spoke to one of the lifeguards who told me that the numbers of jellyfish have definitely decreased since last week, which is certainly good news if you plan on taking a dip in the sea!
He had only dealt with two injuries that day - one was a French tourist and the other was a fellow lifeguard - even they are not spared!

First Aid point on Poniente - on Levante they are yellow & white

If you are stung and need assistance then head to one of the brightly coloured candy striped wooden huts along the beach - these are the first aid stations. The advice given by one of those manning it was as follows:

Try and bathe the sting in seawater - if you have one, wet a flannel or some of your towel and place on the affected area for about half an hour, keeping it wet, but DO NOT under any circumstances use fresh water they said - this will make it worse! I have fortunately never been stung but imagine it would have been fairly likely that my first instinct would be to wash in fresh water - like washing a wound when cut, so that was a surprise to hear.

If the sting is not subsiding then go the the local farmacia and get some cream - the one which was particularly recommended for jellyfish stings was "NEOSAYOMOL 20mg" and can be purchased over the counter for 6.60 euro - it is also good for insect bites so may be worth investing in one just incase the worse happens - but it is not suitable for children under the age of 6.

The councillor for beaches, Vicente Juan Ivorra set up regular patrols up and down the shoreline following complaints from bathers about an initial slow response from the authorities. The patrols are collecting any washed up jellyfish - which has been in operation since the 5th June and they also have a boat out at sea monitoring their movement. The plague has arrived from the Alboran Sea - which lies between Spain on the North and Morocco and Algeria to the South, due to a combination of sea currents from the North East and winds from the South East - lets hope that we don´t see many more of these infestations....