The ocean side of Mount Maunganui beach last February. Photo / File
Beachgoers at Mount Maunganui and Pāpāmoa are experiencing painful, stinging encounters with jellyfish larvae and the Mount Mauler, prompting concern such visitors may not return to local shores.
The spate of incidents has been described as the "worst" in decades* with Tauranga pharmacies running out of treatments for "suffering" Mount Mauler and jellyfish larvae victims.
An estimated 10,000 people have flocked to Tauranga coastlines during the holidays while the city experienced a heat swell reaching 30C some days.
A Girven Road Pharmacy worker, who would not be named, believed fewer tourists could be expected next summer given the "huge" numbers who had been stung by the jellyfish larvae.
The majority of those seeking treatment were holiday-makers, she said.
"It's actually putting people off, and a lot of people that have come in have said that it's quite disappointing."
The worker said last week was when the influx began. Holidaymakers came in with spotty, itchy marks the team hadn't seen before.
"The first two we thought were bedbugs ... but the more the day went on, we kept seeing the same rash neck down."
The team did their own research and found that the rashes were jellyfish larvae.
The rashes were red and had been on many children with the larvae getting stuck in swimming togs and wetsuits.
About 50 people came for help and the pharmacy had sold out of antihistamine cream and tablets which needed to be double-ordered back, she said.
The worst the worker saw was a surfer who had "very red" rashes from his neck to his feet and everywhere in between who needed to be prescribed the strongest antihistamine.
She said she had lived in Tauranga most of her life and she, nor the pharmacy's regular customers, had seen this before.
Some customers spoke of larvae sticking to their skin and having to be flicked off, plus seeing many in the water.
Downtown Pharmacy pharmacist Leanne Hall said some people were "quite upset that they've come here for a holiday and they're really suffering".
She said the demand was higher than usual with between 30 and 40 families each day for either maulers or jellyfish larvae.
Mount Mauler bites are usually on people who have been close to dry sand on exposed skin, and the larvae stings were within the swimwear of those who swam.
Hall also worked at Life Pharmacy Bayfair and said the demand was just as high there, selling out of treatments at both locations.
Antihistamines and topical cooling gels eased the symptoms.
In terms of prevention, Hall said staying in wet sand or putting down mats or towels was best to avoid the maulers and "wear the skimpiest togs you've got" to avoid the stings.
Mount Pharmacy staff member Jackie Gifford said they were running out of creams and tablets to help sooth mauler victims.
"It's just crazy at the moment, itches everywhere."
Tauranga resident Emily Macklow was stung by what she believed were jellyfish eggs or larvae while bodyboarding in Pāpāmoa.
"I could feel tiny little egg-like creatures hitting against me as I swam but didn't think much about them."
It was when she got out of the water that she felt something stinging inside her togs, but she couldn't see anything.
The following morning she realised how badly she'd been stung, the worst being beneath and on the underside of her breasts.
"The itching was intensely torturous."
Her legs have also been "badly bitten" by the maulers further up the beach which involved "intense itching" and all the marks are still there.
She's always loved the beach but will be swimming in rivers for now.
Rotorua father Ben Fraser said he and his 6-year-old son got home to find rashes on their legs after spending most of last week in the water or playing in the sand near Pāpāmoa Domain.
His son's been "super itchy and uncomfortable" at night and "incessantly" scratching the sore and red rashes.
Fraser said they did not feel anything while at the beach and noticed what happened when they got home.
Fraser was unsure if the rashes came from the maulers or jellyfish and said there were "heaps of little bits of jelly" in the water on some of the days they were out.
The larvae, also known as the Sea Bathers Eruption, are tiny jellyfish with stinging cells that are triggered by pressure or osmotic changes.
In 2016, Bay of Plenty Polytechnic Marine and Environmental Management Group leader Dean Tully said Sea Bathers Eruption were more common in summer.
"They are really horrible, not bad initially but get worse and worse," Tully said.
Mount Maunganui and Pāpāmoa community social media pages have been teeming with people's accounts of being stung or bitten.
The comments include comparing bites, stings, rashes and where they were attacked - from the person with 45 bites on their feet or another's healing time that takes three weeks.
And it's not just recent victims carrying battle wounds. Two years after being attacked by maulers at Pāpāmoa, Wayne Olney still has the scars.
What he thought was only a few bites at the time turned into him waking up the day after "smothered" in bites on his legs.
Onley said he had sleepless nights from the itching, it bled a lot and was painful.
He was bitten in October 2019 and it didn't start to heal until after Christmas. He didn't return to the beach until March the following year.
Toi Te Ora Public Health medical officer of health Dr Phil Shoemack said bites and stings were more common in summer across the region partly due to more people at the beach.
He said there were many causes of rashes, bites and stings including mosquitoes, jellyfish and their larvae, and some types of seaweed.
Jellyfish larvae:
• Also known as sea lice, are the larvae of the thimble jellyfish.
• Sea Bather's Eruption is an itchy rash of the covered skin that appears soon after swimming in the sea, caused by stings from the nematocysts (stinging cells) of the larvae.
• Avoid it: Not much can be done to avoid the stings if they're in the water.
• Treatment: Quickly remove the swimwear, rinse the body in seawater that doesn't have the jellyfish. Pat-dry with a towel and dress in clean clothes. Don't rub affected areas with a towel or hands. Caution: An immediate rinse with fresh water, vinegar, or other solutions may cause additional stinging from organisms clinging to skin or clothes.
Mount Mauler
• It looks like a translucent maggot, and is called phycosecis limbata.
• It moves at a fast rate across the body, covering the person in extremely itchy bites, causing sleepless nights and medical treatment is required in some cases.
• Avoid it: Sit below the waterline, the bug only lives in dry sand.
• Treatment: See a pharmacist for anti-itch cream and antihistamines. Serious cases are referred to a doctor for a prescription of steroid cream.
Police say the death is not being treated as suspicious.