ow… I was trying to show another diver something cool on the reef, and I didn’t even feel my hand touch anything! There was just a sharp, painful burn on my finger. I thought it was a jellyfish at first, but when I examined the wound later it looked like a nasty 2nd degree burn. I correctly guessed fire coral was the culprit.
Fire coral is horrible! The pain lasted a week, went away, and then came back worse than ever. Sea water, isopropyl alcohol, steroid cream, and vinegar are all said to help the burn but honestly nothing worked as effectively as I hoped it would! With time it’s definitely healing, but wow. That sucked.
Divers aren’t supposed to wear gloves on this particular reef, but I think I could have gotten away with it without getting in trouble.
I ended up not wearing gloves because… I was doing my Divemaster course! I was having enough trouble managing everything going on around me, plus attaching/reattaching the 6 different tools clipped to my BCD that I had to constantly remove and use… it was just easier without gloves.
Well, it made handling my tools and BCD a little easier, but was it really worth it when the trade off is a multi-week burn…?
Open Water Saga 