A drone photo captures Pensacola photographer Shane Dye on a paddle board surrounded by thousands of jellyfish in Navarre Beach, Fla., on Tuesday, August 23, 2022.
Amber Fletcher (amberfletcher.com)
A hundred jellyfish washed up on a Florida beach this week, and a photographer captured the ramen-like scene on video with his drone.
Amber Fletcher had just gotten home from taking photos of sharks, dolphins and rays with a friend on Pensacola Beach, when they saw the jellyfish alert Tuesday followingnoon just offshore.
Fighting followingnoon traffic, the Pensacola photographers hurried to Navarre Beach. Fletcher flew a drone from a parking lot and his friend Shane Dye jumped into the water on top of a paddle board.
They helped each other and located the massive gathering of sea nettle jellyfish. Fletcher said he hadn’t imagined they’d see so many creatures huddled by the dock.
“It was absolutely mind-blowing,” the 34-year-old told the Herald. “It doesn’t even look real.”
One of the photos Fletcher took shows Dye on his paddle board completely surrounded by aquatic invertebrates. Dye said that once she got up she realized that he might fall into the water and die. Despite that, she took underwater photos from the paddle board.
“It was definitely scary,” the 32-year-old said.
The duo said they were only able to see most of the jellyfish for regarding 45 minutes.
“I was excited to capture something that people don’t normally get to see,” Dye said.