While on the North Shore, some of us visited the beach at night time. No big deal, right? Except this visit would plague me for the rest of the trip and beyond. I did not go into the water. I just stayed on the beach and this was my big mistake. Little did I know that the beach was infested with bugs… sand fleas? I didn’t realize until we left the beach and I was in the light that I had been eaten alive on the front of my legs from my knees down… you know.. the part that you don’t cover every day in Hawaii… the part where my wedding dress ends and my legs show?
Awesome. The bites got super-bad. Very inflamed and red. The photo below was taken the morning after the bites occurred. They weren’t even that bad yet as compared to the next few days after that, but you can see how many. There were big clusters around my ankles where my ankles got really puffy from all the bites. Ew!
When we got to Kauai I consulted with a pharmacist and began applying hydrocortizone and calmine lotion. Also, some neosporine, just for good measure. I also did soaks in oatmeal and epsom salt. Most of the treatments the pharmacist recommended to me were to relieve itching. I told her that my legs didn’t itch, they just looked hideous. She said there’s no way it was going to go away in a week and suggested I try makeup!
The treatments did help relieve the swelling and redness, but for sure did not provide an instant cure. In the end my makeup artist, after doing my face, applied coverup to my legs! I don’t think it was too noticeable at the wedding, if you didn’t know what to look for, but certainly something I did not expect having to deal with that week!
Also, I’ve never ever had this happen before. Dallas lived in Hawaii most of his life, I lived on the beach in Cali for a few years, neither of of has seen this before…. figures that it would happen on the wedding trip!
P.S. I’m never going to Sunset Beach at night again!
