A flotilla of bluebottles made their presence felt at Sunshine Coast beaches during the weekend as thousands of people flocked to the beach.
Surf Life Saving Sunshine Coast duty officer Ben Campbell said stingers made their way to open stretches and patrols recorded 60 stings.
“On Saturday afternoon (there were many bluebottles) because we had that pretty strong northerly kick in after such a nice morning,” he said.
“Considering we only had that five-hour period when we were open, it is a considerable amount of bluebottles.”
The conditions weren’t quite as conducive for stingers on Sunday and Mr Campbell said it had been a relatively quiet summer for them.
“I can’t really recall a day where bluebottles have been the main talk,” he said.
“Two years ago we had three of four weeks in summer that were insane.”
It was a relatively busy weekend for local patrols.
They made eight rescues and were involved in 3100 preventative actions as droves of people took to the beach to escape the muggy conditions.
The ratio of rescues to preventative actions was impressive for local patrols.
“We’re going back to our motto that it’s better to prevent than do rescues so it’s been really good,” Mr Campbell said.
“Attendance at beaches has been high.
“There was a nice swell in the mornings, of 2-3 foot, which encouraged so many people down.
“Noosa and Mooloolaba had big crowd numbers in the smaller surf and with all the shops there on Valentine’s Day.”
