When washing bloody hands in ocean, the action will begin briefly and then stop. If tried again immediately, it wont allow the action.
If you get up and move, it will allow the action again for a brief moment, then do the same as before.

Hands to not appear clean for seconds to several minutes later.

Even after logging out/logging back in hand status appears bloody.

Unsure if game registers hands as clean or not after first attempt, and perhaps appearance of blood is just out of sync.