An Australian surfer's "wild experience" in Fiji had nothing to do with the waves. Guy Rowles, 30, says he was hit with pain that felt like "fire" after a brush with what is described as the ocean's most venomous creature: an irukandji box jellyfish. A sting from the jellyfish's venomous tentacles can be fatal and trigger long-lasting pain "that sounds like medieval torture," per the BBC. Thankfully, Rowles was with a local guide who knew the burning symptom was a bad sign and told him to get to the boat immediately. Rowles tells News.com.au he grew lightheaded and felt his chest "starting to squeeze" while he was still paddling.
It was the first day of his vacation and he'd been surfing Cloudbreak off Tavarua Island for only 30 minutes. Suddenly, "it felt like I was breathing through a straw. I was convulsing, couldn't stop sweating. I was shaking and my heart was beating out of my chest," he says. "I just kept asking my dad, 'Am I going to die?'" He endured a 40-minute boat ride to shore before reaching a hospital, where doctors poured vinegar on the wound but determined it was too late to administer antivenom, he says. They suspected he'd been stung by an irukandji, a highly venomous type of box jellyfish that is smaller than most.
Rowles had previously been stung by a less harmful bluebottle jellyfish. But in this case, the pain "just was so intense," he tells Sky News Australia, adding it "felt like someone poured like hot oil on my arm and just they weren't stopping." He says medical staff administered morphine and monitored his heart for about four hours before discharging him. "I felt a bit weird for the rest of the day," but "I was back surfing by the next afternoon," he tells News.com.au. "We've had a good giggle about it now," he adds, per Sky.
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