Stinging jellyfish, rays with their whip-like tails and sharks on the hunt are some ocean hazards that might typically worry beachgoers.
But rip currents are the greatest danger and account for the most beach rescues every year.
Officials say six people drowned in rip currents over a recent two-day period in Florida, including a couple vacationing on Hutchinson Island from Pennsylvania with their six children and three young men on a Panhandle holiday from Alabama.
About 100 people drown from rip currents along U.S. beaches each year.
That is according to the U.S. Lifesaving Association. And more than 80 percent of beach rescues annually involve rip currents.
Daniel Barnickel with Palm Beach County Ocean Rescue says it's nearly impossible to fight the current directly.
Many swimmers who get in trouble tire themselves out trying to get back to the beach, lifeguards say.
Barnickel encourages all ocean swimmers to stay near a lifeguard station.
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