Sting Ray Encounter
On Monday, July 29, 2024, I was swimming at a deserted beach near Santa Barbara. To be specific, it was about a half mile south of the Goleta Beach pier. To get to this beach one must cross a slough, which is about waste deep. In theory, it could be accessed from the south, but only during low tide and from More Mesa Beach, which is difficult to find and requires a long walk from anyplace legal to park. Few people are inclined to make the effort either way, making this beach nice and private, yet conveniently close to civilization.
As I was getting out from a refreshing ocean swim, about knee deep in water, I suddenly felt like something stabbing my right foot. I couldn’t see what caused it as the waves made the churning seawater foamy and difficult to see through.
When I got my feet on dry land, I could clearly see my foot bleeding through what looked like a puncture wound. At the time, I didn’t know what caused it. However, I felt that figuring that out was not as important as getting back to civilization. While my foot continued bleeding for about another ten minutes, I walked in the shallow water, thinking the salt water would help keep the wound clean and the salt water would aid in healing. I am not sure if this was the best course of action, but it is what I did.
By the time I arrived at Goleta Beach, about half an hour later, the bleeding had stopped and there was not much pain. However, I was curious about what happened to me. The first lifeguard tower was empty, so I made my way to the second one. I got the attention of the lifeguard and explained what happened. He immediately said, “You were stung by a stingray.”
He took the situation much more seriously than I did. Although I said I could ride my bicycle back to where I was staying, he had none of that and had me sit down in a folding chair by his tower. He then called somebody on the radio to report a stingray bite. Two beach workers, I assume to be rangers, quickly appeared. The lifeguard asked one of them to bring some hot water.
As I sat there getting all this attention, the pain started to increase significantly. About five minutes later,the ranger came back with a bag, that seemed to made out of thick mylar, full of extremely hot water. The lifeguard told me to put my foot in it, but the water was too hot. We diluted it with some drinking water until I could stand the heat.
He then suggested I have someone pick me up and take me to seek medical care, as he was worried the stinger might still be under my skin. I protested, saying I could bike back to where we were staying, but the lifeguard rebuffed that idea firmly. He said I might not make it back and get in an accident. He told the story of a woman who had been stung there and tried to drive herself to the hospital but got in an accident on the way.
I told him my wife’s number and she came to get me. By the time she arrived, when I took my foot about of the bag, was as much as I ever felt in my life. By this point, the pain wasn’t just in my foot, but all over my body, but especially in the extremities of my hands and feet.One of the rangers drove me in a golf cart to our car. Before leaving, I gave them a huge “thank you” for taking such good care of me. From there we ended up at a Cottage Hospital Urgent Care center in Goleta.
There was just one patient in the waiting room at the time we arrived. She kindly let me be seen before her when she overheard the reason I was there. The nurse there first put my foot in a bin of hot water. Then, she took three x-rays of my foot to see if the stinger was still in there. Fortunately, it wasn’t, at least not that a mystery radiologist somewhere saw.
After that, the nurse put two hot backs on my foot and wrapped up everything tightly. She told me to keep the wound clean for a day or two. When we then got back to where we were staying, I had a much-needed nap.
When I woke up, I finally started to feel better. Previously, the lifeguard said the pain usually lasts about four hours, which seemed about right in my case. After a very dramatic and painful incident, it was strange and nice to feel normal so soon afterward.
The next day the same nurse called to check up on me. I told her I was feeling much better. For the days that followed, I could still see some swelling around the puncture and could feel a little soreness when I walked. I would say I could still feel the sting for about a week, but it was barely noticeable and only when I walked or ran. Other than taking it easy the following day, the rest of the week I was out there running on the beach and stand-up paddleboarding, as I usually do there. However, I wasn’t up to going swimming again. The lifeguard at Goleta Beach said they get one or two stingray incidents a week, so why take any chances?
About two weeks after the incident, I got a nicely hand-written card from the nurse at the Goleta Urgent Care. That is something you would NEVER see happen in Las Vegas.
In closing, I would like to thank everybody who helped me, namely the lifeguard, the two rangers, the urgent care nurse and my wife. I’m thankful that when I needed medical attention it happened in California as opposed to Nevada.
Here is the puzzle section of the newsletter. I shall start by reminding you of the puzzle from last week.
September 5, 2024 Puzzle Question
You have 25 horses and a track that can race five horses at a time. The only thing you learn from each race is the winning order, from 1 to 5. You don't have a watch. Each horse always runs at its own constant speed. What is the least number of races required to determine the fastest three horses in order and how should it be done?
September 5, 2024 Puzzle Answer:
You need seven races. The following is how to do it.
Divide the horses into five groups. For the first five races, race all five horses in each group. Note the results in first, second and third place. Call these five races the "first round."
For the sixth race, race the winners of the first five races. Again, record the horses that finished in the top three.
At this point, we will know the fastest horse. However, maybe the second and/or third fastest horses lost to the fastest horse in the first round. Maybe the third-place horse lost to the second-place horse in the first round.
For the seventh race we race the following horses:
Second place from race 6
Third place from race 6
Second place from round 1 of winning horse.
Third place from round 1 of winning horse.
Second place from round 1 of second place horse from race 6
The order the top two come in on race 7 will be the second and third fastest horses.
September 12, 2024 Puzzle Question
Three logicians are asleep under a tree. While they are asleep, a mischievous boy paints a smiley face on all three foreheads. Later, they all wake up at the same time. Each logician can see the other two have their foreheads painted with a smiley face and immediately start to laugh. Nobody can see their own forehead. However, after several seconds, they all stopped laughing because each realized he was painted as well. How did they figure this out?