How I Almost Died From a Sea Urchin Sting

Waverly Younts, Staff Writer|January 16, 2020

The black dots are the spines and the red dots are where the spines were pulled out.

I once watched an episode of Ellen where Taylor Swift confessed her greatest fear- sea urchins. Sure, in pictures they look frightening but I never thought they would be my greatest fear as well. This was my same thought until the summer of 2019 when I traveled to Guanacaste, Costa Rica with my mom, my best friend, and many family friends. We stayed at a beautiful hotel which had direct beach access. The first two days were an absolute dream! We planned many different excursions, ate amazing food, and enjoyed relaxing in the pool and in the ocean. However, this trip took a turn for me on the third day. 

The black dots are the spines that were left in my hands and the red dots are where the spines were pulled out.

The kids on the vacation all decided to go snorkeling early that third morning. Most people that know me will tell you that I am an absolutely terrible swimmer. I’m not sure why I thought snorkeling anywhere, let alone a foreign country, would be a good idea for me whatsoever. But for some reason, I put on my mask and we all made our way down to the beach. Everything was fine until my mask started filling with water. In order to adjust it, I gained my balance by standing on a rock in the ocean. As I was doing that, a wave came in and everything went quiet- it felt like one of those movie scenes where the character gets attacked by a shark. I, of course, panicked and started yelling for my friend. This led to me losing my balance, slipping on the rock, and landing on four different sea urchins resulting in over one hundred sea urchin spines in my skin.

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I do not remember much after this happened due to me being in shock from the tremendous amount of pain I was in. However, I do remember my friend swimming me into shore, her carrying me onto the beach, and then being surrounded by strangers who were helping to pull the spines out from my hands and feet. I did not go to the hospital because locals told us that all I had to do was soak the affected areas in warm water and they would tell us the same at the hospital. Instead of staying in the hotel room the whole day, I decided to sit and stay on the beach with everyone else. My mom felt really bad for me so she fed me ice cream the whole day(I could not use my hands). I was in the worst pain I had ever been in.

Somehow, I was able to go on an excursion to a rainforest the very next day. I was able to go ziplining and horseback riding but I had to use my less hurt, non dominant hand. Although the pain was horrendous for the rest of the trip and even after, I managed to power through and made incredible memories. Since the trip, all of the spines have dissolved except one in my hand that doctors say will be there forever. I will always carry a piece of Costa Rica in me!