2019.08.16 UPDATE! I asked Danish friends about jellyfish and the rule of thumb is if the ring around the top of the jellyfish is white or blue, their sting does not hurt humans (can’t get through the skin).
If it’s red, the sting will be felt, but it’s nothing like a Man O War sting, it’ll only last 20 or 30 minutes.
And also, peeing on the sting is a myth – except, apparently, for one species of jellyfish in Hawaii…
After studying Sunday’s weather forecast for the better part of Sunday morning, I determined that the best (warmest) time to swim Sunday would be between 1pm and 4pm. So we timed our arrival at Nordhavn Bassin to coincide with the switch from “mostly cloudy” to “partly cloudy,” at 1pm.
It didn’t work out as I’d planned.
The “mostly cloudy” lingered until about 2:30. It was super windy – like-cannot-move-the-bike-forward-in the-headwind-windy and mostly cloudy + windy + 66 degree water was just not ideal.
The youngest was not deterred, however. And jumped in right away.
Because it was windy, cloudy, 70 degrees, Dad and I developed a strategy for swimming – Run first. Before you get worried that we ran together and left the girls to swim without adult supervision (no lifeguards here – more on that later). MBH (my beloved husband) went to run first – about 45 minutes, pretty fast (5 miles or so) came back. Then I headed out: 20 minutes, run/walk – 1.5 miles… I’m easing into training for a 1/2 ironwoman next summer…When I got back from my short shuffle, it was still mostly cloudy and very windy and MBH had decided to wait until next time…
But I was NOT going to NOT swim today. I had spent far too much time strategizing and plotting and planning for this. And I knew that I just had to take the leap, swim fast for a minute or so to warm up, then settle into swimming freestyle for about 20 minutes. And I’d be done. And I’d be happy I’d done it.
So I jumped in. And it was damn cold, but I put my head down and swam to the other end of the roped off swimming area and as I was swimming, I saw a bunch of somethings below me that made my heart race faster (almost stop, TBH)
Jellyfish.
Egads, I had not anticipated this. And there wasn’t just one. From one end of the swimming area to the other I saw 10 to 15. And before I was going to stay in that water, I had to find out more about these jellyfish – I.e. how badly do they sting.
I got out. quickly.
And expected to immediately be freezing because it was still super windy. But I wasn’t. Why? Because my skin was numb. And as hard as this may be to believe, it really wasn’t unpleasant.
I did some quick internet research on jellyfish in Copenhagen/Denmark and apparently it is the time of year for lots of them.
- Wild About Denmark
- A 2015 article about jellyfish invasion
- One person quoted in this article is wholly unconcerned about swimming with Jellyfish in Copenhagen Harbor.
- OMG, here’s a dolphin JUGGLING a jellyfish in Denmark. Just 2 days ago. Not Copenhagen, but Denmark is a small country so probably not far. The dolphin’s jellyfish looks a bit bigger than the ones I saw.
- I’m thinking these jellyfish may be Aurelia aurita
- And while this article says they are harmless to humans, this article suggests otherwise.
Some sting strong enough to go through human skin, others don’t. I’m 90% sure the ones I saw swimming below me are the harmless kind, and so many people were swimming and jumping in around us, I’m sure I could have gotten back in to swim my 20 minutes without dying.
But I decided to call it a day (J & M and MBH had already called it a day). I need to be 100% sure these jellyfish won’t kill me.
So we headed home.