The city Department of Parks and Recreation closed the beach at Hanauma Bay Nature Preserve today due to an influx of box jellyfish.
Over 60 stings were reported to lifeguards and staff this morning, the department said.
Nature preserve staff and ocean safety officials will reassess the situation tomorrow morning to determine whether it is safe to reopen Hanauma Bay.
The two parking lots, upper viewing area and visitor center will remain open during normal operating hours.
University of Hawai?i researchers recommend washing a jellyfish sting with vinegar or plucking off tentacles with a tweezer and then applying heat to lessen the venom?s effects. Don?t use seawater, scrape off the tentacles or apply ice, they advise.
"Applying ice not only didn?t help," the researchers said, [but] for stings from the Hawaiian box jelly, it actually enhanced the venom?s activity to make stings cause more than twice the damage."
