Jellyfish, Imitating A

An Amusing Beach Activity

by Roel van der Meulen (vdmeulen@strw.leidenuniv.nl)
written 25 Jul 1994

This article is classified "Real"


One of my favourite activities on very hot days is going to the beach and
imitating a jellyfish.  It is highly probable that you've engaged in this
activity yourself too, once or twice, but you never realized what it
really was you were doing.

Imitating a jellyfish comes down to lying in the surf, approximately the
place the water reaches the shore, and then floating belly-side down,
holding yourself in place with your down-stretched hands.  When the wind is
right, you are able to observe jellyfish doing exactly that (apart from
them not having bellies and arms), and you could even float there with them
(if you're into this kind of stuff).

The activity, or better, non-activity, of imitating a jellyfish is
especially very nice when the sun blazes and it's really hot, your body is
burnt all over, and you're a bit too lazy to swim or do anything else that
involves being active.  Try doing it sometime.

Also note the millions of people lying on the beach imitating jellyfish
(drying out on land).  Should one of these people remain lying there long
enough, only a faint greasy spot would indicate where the once were.

See also:
  • Jellyfish, 1001 Uses Of

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