REHOBOTH BEACH, De. -- Jellyfish are lurking in the waters around Delmarva. Meaning beachgoers, especially those who plan on getting in the water, need to be extra careful.
Rehoboth Beach Patrol told us on Thursday they started getting reports of stings back in late June, even though the jellies normally don't surface until sometime in mid-July.
So if you plan on wading into the water, you'll need to avoid more than just incoming waves. Beachgoers we spoke with though, for the most part, don't plan on letting it ruin their fun.
Lindsay Sweet said he's willing to take the risk.
"I'll be looking out for them if I swim, I'm not going to be too concerned with it," said Sweet. "I'll still be going in the water if I want to go in the water."
On the other hand, Carol Klein said she'd much rather prefer to keep her toes in the sand.
"I think I would not want to go in the water, because who wants to get stung by a jellyfish, right?" questioned Klein.
If you are feeling brave enough to take a dip, the beach patrol said there are ways to see if you'll be swimming in a relatively 'jellyfish free zone'.
"If you're trying to look at the surface sometimes they'll be at the surface, sometimes they're not," said Nico Caceres with Rehoboth Beach Patrol. "You can definitely feel them. If you start feeling a lot of jellyfish and you're feeling a lot of stings, that's when you know to back out of the water and maybe give it a little time."
Caceres said if you don't want to get stung, the best bet is to just stay out of the water. If you are one of the unlucky ones though and end up losing the jellyfish battle, the nearest lifeguard stand should be your next stop.
"We've got a 50/50 water, vinegar solution that is in a spray bottle and then we just spray the affected area with that solution," said Caceres. "Usually it helps to kind of neutralize the venom that's in the stings and then kind of helps the sting with alleviating pain."
Pouring warm water over the sting works as well. What does NOT work according to the beach patrol, is the common myth of urinating on a jellyfish sting.
As for why jellyfish are already in our waters, the beach patrols best guess is the recent string of extremely hot weather that's hit the peninsula. It's lead to warmer-than-usual water for this time of year, and the jellyfish have clearly caught on.