We have finally rented a scooter! Walking in this heat even if it is only down to the beach is a tiresome task! We rented the scooter from Rental Bongiorno which is only a 5 minute walk from the marina at Santa Marina. The rental fee (now in July) is the same (€25/day) as it was the last time we were here (in September). Good thing we brought our driving licenses this time!
With this new found freedom, we decided to take our snorkel to another beach on Salina. Our pick for today was in a town called Pollara which is along the western coast of the island. Hubby was excited to snorkel here and convinced me that this was the best beach! Access to the sea was down a long flight of stairs and through a small bay where boats used to be driven into the sea. There isn’t even a beach here. I was surprised to find the waves rather big as it was not a windy day but realised that boats kept coming into the bay every 10 minutes.
I reckon this location is among the popular destinations for sight-seeing tourists making around-the-island tours. We jumped into the sea only to find the water speckled with broken algae, sea grass and moss making visibility limited (a maximum of 4 meters). After struggling against the waves for a while, we decided to switch direction and head towards the shore thinking that perhaps visibility might improve. Hubby swam ahead of me but before long, he turned around, swam back towards me and said that he had been stung by a jellyfish…”we’re heading home NOW!”. The mauve stinger (Pelagia noctiluca) had been on the surface and because of the poor visibility and the waves being so big, he could not really see what was ahead of him. His forehead came in direct contact with its tentacles. We rushed back to shore, grabbed our things and raced home with a sea-water soaked towel wrapped around his head.
I can imagine the 15 to 20 minute ride back home was probably the most excruciating time for him and of all locations, why Pollara?! It is the furthest location from Santa Marina! Thank goodness we arrived home safely. The sting was a rather long one…about 8 – 10 cm in length. It looked like a Harry Potter scar with longer ends but on the wrong side of the forehead (unfortunately no pictures because we kept it covered most of the time). Once home, we tried a couple of things. The first thing we tried was a cooling gel for mosquito bites. If you ever get stung by a jellyfish, NEVER use something like that even though the instructions say otherwise. Hubby was in even more pain than before. He washed it off while I looked for something else. In the cupboards, I found a 2 liter bottle of vinegar. While pouring it out onto a piece of kitchen towel, the smell of the dark liquid was more like wine than vinegar. I figured this was probably some old forgotten bottle of red wine that has fermented into vinegar. Still, this turned out to be the best remedy for his sting. He had to leave the soaked kitchen towel on his forehead for the rest of the day.
Despite this unfortunate event, hubby was game to get back into the water later in the evening (about 6pm). We packed a small bottle of vinegar along with our snorkelling gear and rode down to the marina to snorkel there. We kept a close eye out for jellyfish and while there were a few mauve stingers (which stung hubby before), the waves were just ripples and visibility was much better so we could steer away from them. This time, our highlight was finding a moray eel completely out in the open! We normally find these half hidden between rocks or in caves so this find was exciting!
Since this day, we include a bottle of vinegar as part of our snorkelling gear…never leave home without it! We have agreed that the nice things are not always in the furthest locations. In fact, the best things can sometimes be found in your backyard.
Belosophy 
One thought on “A sting at Pollara, Salina, Bella Italia”