This is great! I haven't been on the board lately to see how long this thread is becoming! I've never told so many people about my UTI issues!!!

I have an idea. You know cranberry juice is very good for urinary tract health. Seeing as there are SO many people who admitted they P in the ocean, perhaps the VI's could take a proactive stance and come up with a new drink with cranberry juice in it. Or revise an old recipe. Like adding cranberry juice to a Painkiller. Call it BladderPainKiller. Or add cranberry juice to the multi-ingredient Bushwacker. We could call it KeepThatBushHealthyWacker.

My bad, I know......

"KeepThatBushHealthyWacker" LMAO!!!!

Now you've done it...this thread is destined for 5 pages with that one. 🙂

I think the US Parks department should become proactive concerning the potential coral damage, global warming thing. Perhaps they should put several of those 'magic tablets' in the water much like the public pools that indicate when someone has 'let loose'. The visual of Trunk during a cruise ship invasion...boggles the mind.

Here is our "signature" STJ drink called a Coral Breeze but also known as a Skeeter after drinking 18 of them at Skinny's (don't worry it wasn't just me - my hubby, his brother, his friend and me - but I only had 2) and being bitten to death by thoses "skeeters" and feeling no pain 🙂

Equal parts of........

Captain Morgan Spiced Rum
Malibu Rum
Cranberry Juice
Pineapple Juice

Drink as a shot (now a traditional welcome drink) or over ice - can also freeze it in a jug and take to the beach 🙂

Enjoy

Pia

Okay, I'll chime in now. Try cranberry juice with vanilla vodka. Simple to make and the vanilla smoothes out the acidic quality of the c-juice. Haven't named it yet.

Re cranberry based island drinks...I've posted this before...
Pour in equal parts Cranberry juice, Ting, and Cruzan Citrus flavored Rum over ice. Squeeze and drop in lime quarter. Optional: splash Cruzan dark Rum and a sprinkle nutmeg on top. Yum-o!

Try cranberry juice with vanilla vodka. .... Haven't named it yet.

How 'bout calling it a "cranilla-thrilla"?

I just asked a couple of nurses that I work with about the not P-ing in the ocean or a lake thing. They have never heard of it. They thought that the salt water in the ocean would help prevent the infection. I think that I will research this further.

As for cranberries, Wisconsin has a lot of cranberry growers. Cranberry wine is my favorite. Check out some Wisconsin cranberry wine sometime!

It's definitely true, Terri! Keep asking around the medical profession. See page 1 posting by LisaMae, a nurse. It happened to me, and my doctor confirmed this can happen. Bacteria can survive in salt water as well as fresh. And salt water wouldn't prevent getting an infection - - otherwise doctors would prescribe a salt water "wash" (if you get my drift) to prevent UTI's or bladder infections.

Cranberry wine - - sounds yummy though.

Yep .....it is true. My family (when visiting from England) had just watched a documentary on this exact thing before their visit and said it was really disturbing (some of the images of the bacteria) and absolutely refused to "go" in the ocean. The funny part was watching my brother hang over the side of the dingy we rented for a whole day, and hold himself up just above the water.....boy does he have strong arms 🙂

Oh - a ting based drink, yummy!

My cranberry based drink - sex on the beach
4 parts vodka, 3 parts peach schnapps, 6 parts cranberry juice, 6 parts pineapple juice, cherry for garnish.
For safe sex on the beach just omit the vodka.
And for people who hate cranberries - 500 - 1000mg vitamin C a day works to acidify urine to ward off infections.

Lisa

Okay, Land, I don't know what a "salt water wash" is but I would rather have one of jmg's cranberry, ting, rum things over THAT any day!!!

I LOVE Ting... I wish we could get it in the states or order it from the USVI. Any ideas on that?

OK would somebody explain what Ting is??? Let's see, this thread went from snorkeling, to peeing in the ocean, to coctail recipes! Cool!

MGirl: Ting is a lightly carbonated slightly sweet soft drink made from Jamacian grapefruit - widely available in those green bottles in the VIs, was part of our welcome basket at Gallows this spring.
Back here at home in NJ was able to find it in a local Caribbean mart in New Brunswick. When I cant get it, I often substitute Newmans pink lemonade for the Ting - we dont like our Rum drinks too sweet, and the local Buy Rite just started carrying the citrus flavored Cruzan, which until recently, was a bit hard to find - for some reason they always had the other flavors but not the citrus. OK now I have to shake up a batch tonight...

PLEASE.....when I was in grade school it was another ice age coming.....now its warming......its nothing more than a bunch of activists trying to get government grants.....for "research"
Do we forget that 1938 is the warmest year in hte past hundred????
I have a very large Dodge Quadcab and will continue to drive 71 miles each way to and from work.....ALONE in my BIG TRUCK.....as far as my boat, it also uses tons of gas.
Both of my ATV's burn tons of gas.......
The Mojave desert was once the ocean floor......bit colder then I guess.....anyway, my point is its normal change, cyclical....Last year we caused all the hurricanes and this year was going to be the worst ever.....well.....nothing happened this year in the hurricane world.....because these "experts" don't have a clue. I live in northern Maine and have decided that since the meteorologist can't tell me what its going to be like outside next Friday.....he certainly can't tell me whats going to happen in twenty years.
So let me burn my gas and don't blame me for the coral.....unless you are including the last diving trip I had there.

If all of you "environMENTAList" out there did your homework, you'd know that the biggest threat to the coral is not people peeing in the ocean or SUV's. The thing that's killing the coral is a virus being carried by the dust coming out of north Africa. This was reported about 2 years ago. But since it can't be tied to any activity that Americans are engaged in, it is ignored. BTW, Al Gore told the UN the other day that cigarette smoking was a significant contributing factor to global warming. So, if you believe that man is responsible for global warming don't smoke. Besides, you'll probably live longer.

http://www.marinebiology.org/coralbleaching.htm

There are many causes of coral reef degradation, I know I've seen a difference in the last 25 years and I think it is sad. That is why I am taking my kids snorkeling now. I hope that their kids can enjoy the reefs someday also.

Well I'm glad to see that someone is paying attention to this sub-topic header. I want to "remind" all the non-environmentalists out there that a) while there are many scientists who depend on research grant money to survive and make a contribution, many discoveries that we all come to believe in (like vaccines) start with a review of data and a hunch that the data means something- if we ignore signs of man-made environmental damage and don't act on it now, later will be too late. b) the media frequently distorts information so no, you shouldn't believe everything you read. But, by the same token, they grossly under-report topics depending on what will bring bigger headlines that day- so the focus on "sensational " news can mean that real information is ignored. c) there is no ONE reason for coral degradation as Terri points out- but don't you feel the least bit responsible for doing your part so that YOU prevent harm done by something you can control?? d) keep in mind that we have access to more opportunities to ruin our planet due to our excess population and the trappings of a materialistic society, such as gas guzzling cars which we didn't have years ago, hence a more rapid increase in the release of toxic poisons that get into our water worldwide- so the data from years ago really does not relate to data collected now and what the trends are leading towards. Its an apples to oranges comparison.
I won't say anything more here because I have found, like with the previous threads on swimming with sick, trapped dolphins in filthy water, that you can't change the minds of people who've already decided to do what they feel like doing. My message is for those who ARE concerned about our planet, including our coral reefs and want to help educate other open minded, intelligent and responsible people to do the same. Thank you to those people!

Very well said. I am not a "tree-hugger" over the edge environmentalist, I just think I can do my part to be careful and not screw up our planet. I know people who refuse to recycle out of laziness. Why is it so hard to put your aluminum cans in a recycle bin rather than the trash? Pollution IS part of the reason why the coral reefs are dying.

OK we have to get to page 5. So we've talked about sex, bodily functions, politics......how 'bout religion to round out the controversial subjects!

Do you think the Pope ever peed in the ocean?
Do you think the Pope's little travel-mobile-thingy guzzles gas, which eventually destroys coral?
Finally, do you think the Pope would like a Bushwacker?

Someone answer my post quick before lighning strikes me down....