We used to go once every summer to Ocracoke Island in the Outer Banks. I noticed that someone was killed there this year by a shark and there were several other attacks, including some other fatalities, down in North Carolina. So, I was kind of happy that we’re going to Cape Cod this year until I saw this. It appears the waters are teeming with Great Whites at the moment, and that’s really not what I want to think about when I’m playing in the surf.
I don’t really worry about sharks much, but it’s a little different when I know the big ones are out there in big numbers.
When I was a teen back in the seventies, we visited friends in Rhode Island. It was right after Jaws came out and NOBODY was in the water.
I have no doubt that the shark population has increased. And it’s been shown that the sharks are coming closer to shorelines, where swimmers are. On the other hand, one shark story becomes twenty when the newspeople get a hold of it.
So, reason to worry or hype?
I guess that’s up to you.
bum bum, bum bum, bum bum bum bumbumbum
People aren’t good at judging risk. Your chances of being hurt in a car crash on the way to the beach are way higher than your chances of being eaten by sharks.
… and I realize we all know this. And I too would be thinking twice about playing in the surf, even though I know this.
five things more likely to kill you than a shark
Jeez!!!
That’s exactly how I feel about living in America!!!
AG
The Horror!
also too …
Warming oceans? Don’t the coldest waters support the most life? Maybe there is less prey for the sharks, so they range farther, going closer to shore and even up rivers.
I’ve been in the Atlantic, at Asbury Park. Meh! Cold and greasy. The Pacific is cold too, at least at Santa Monica. Lake Michigan in August is much better. And no sharks! At least not in the water.
be safe and have fun
On Ocracoke I’d be more worried about the horse flies. Apparently, back in ’57 a small child was carried away by one.
It’s the bull sharks that are a real menace. Peter Benchley who wrote “Jaws” had the series of 1916 attacks in mind when he penned his novel. The bull shark can travel miles inland even in rivers that are no longer brackish, and fully fresh water. There were horrible attacks that summer of 1916 when America was trying to stay neutral while the old order was ripping itself to shreds in Europe at The Battle Of The Somme. Then along come the prowling German U-Boats and a wave of shark attacks. Too bizarre.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jersey_Shore_shark_attacks_of_1916
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ark%20new%20jersey%20river
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Boo: You need to look at Michigan for a summer vacation. Many unspoiled beaches and no sharks or jellyfish or sting rays etc. Just a thought.
It adds some excitement to summer vacation!
Second the Bull Shark comment; they are responsible for almost all bather attacks in N. America. They hunt in the surf, sensing electrical fields in murky water, so waders get hit sometimes. They aren’t found on Cape Cod, that I know of. A southern shark I guess.
Supposedly Great Whites hunt by smell and sight, ambushing seals from below that they can see silhouetted against the surface. That’s why surfers and kayakers are sometimes attacked, looking like seals. But they don’t come into the surf.
On the ocean side of the cape, e.g. Nauset beach, you WILL see seals out beyond the surf break. Which I rather enjoy.
No Great Whites on the Bay side though… Take the kids to the Brewster flats (you can walk for miles on the sand a low tide) and set them loose collecting hermit crabs.
The Havertownian family will be there next week, you should say hi if you are around.
No one was killed by a shark at Ocracoke. A man from Massachusetts was bitten, but ended up OK.