SUMMER TIME & The BEACH! Beware...

Hi Y'all... OK, so I couldn't resist this article! I had to post it for y'all to see/read. I am fascinated by these water creatures, I love learning about them and watching as many documentaries as possible. I'm a big fan of SHARK WEEK, what can I say?! I want to know about these large predators and be familiar so when/if I am in their habitat, I will know how to survive etc.

I had my own encounter with a shark last Summer when I was at Newport Beach/Balboa area. I was out in the water just off the shore -jumping/riding the waves with my friends and it was a major achievement for me to be out as far as I was... as I am terrified of these animals. Granted I wasn't out very far... I could touch the ground, except for when those large gigantic waves would form and before I could run towards the shore, I'd be sucked up by the strong pulling force of the water suction and pulled out further then picked up by the huge waves and thrashed into the sand, pushing me rapidly like a ragdoll towards the shore again. Oddly enough I kept going back for more -LOL.

At one point, I felt the sucking pull and turned towards the sea to find a gigantic wave forming and it actually kinda scared me so I wanted to start running towards the shore, I didn't want to play with this one. Just as I started to turn and make a quick bolt for the shore... the water wanted to play. I felt my body being pulled out by the wave and sure enough I was sucked in and then violently thrown into the sand/ground and as I came up and was able to head a bit towards the shore, something hit me hard in the calf. Real hard. Not only was I hit, but I felt a strong jam into me. It totally frightened me and I immediately fought the water as I wanted out of this scary game. I turned when I could, when I was about out of the water, and looked back into the water... scanning where I was and looking for any sign of what hit me. I didn't see anything. Just people out in the water playing the wave games and wading. My friend was right by where I was... and she was just having a ball. I looked over at her and around her... and at others in the water. I kept my fears to myself. I wasn't 100% sure of what I knew hit me. I've read plenty and seen more documentaries than most... I was pretty sure.

My calf hurt. I knew it would leave a mark. That was not a gentle tap, not even a gentle hit... that was a ram signifying 'hey, you're in my territory, what are you?' I stood on the beach shore for a few minutes... pondering to myself, wondering. Do I dare get back in the water? I looked over about a hundred yards to my right and realized where we were playing in the water... yep, the pier. Where many people were sitting on the edge of the pier -of all things, FISHING! I quickly raced through my memories of what I have learned in the docs and sure enough -wading by a pier is not exactly a smart thing to do. Ugh.

Then my mind started to really work! I remembered when my friend and I first got in the water and not even 10 min or so of jumping the waves, I remember something catching my eye to the left of me, floating in the water... you'll never guess... this is really gross but Mr Monthly was quite present in my friend's life and she lost her paper good in the water! Floating on by me... yuck! I quickly pointed it out to her and she gasped... we tried to catch it but the waves sucked it away from us before we could get it out of the water and out of sight from other swimmers. How embarrassing, I know, and yet not so much when no one even saw it. But it didn't even occur to me until after my forming bruise on my right calf... and after we had been back to our hotel room -that it actually occurred to me of our circumstances and how I wasn't truly thinking at all. Argh.

Pier... bloody paper... oh and I forgot to mention that it dawned on me -how silly of me and rather quite stupid I'll admit... that right before I felt that hard pelt on my calf... I was relieving myself in that darn ocean... I know EW... but I had to go so bad... YEP I was peeing in the ocean... NOW LET ME TELL YOU... DON'T EVER PEE in the OCEAN for a reason! It draws these creatures to come and investigate! So all these factors play in to confirm my suspicions correctly that I'd say 99% of me is absolutely sure I was hit by a curious shark! I had a nice big ol' bruise on my calf as evidence for about a couple weeks too. Now you go on and believe whatever you want... I know what I felt and I know I was certainly among enough triggers to draw one on by... -sigh- You draw your own conclusions, and I have my own.

I'll definitely think twice before I repeat such events... anyway, I think the below article is very interesting... With SUMMER approaching, I hope you'll all be careful and smarter than I was last summer. Have FUN, Play SMART, and Be SAFE... Oh and by the way, indeed, I did go back in the water :)

North America's Top Shark-Attack Beaches
Attacks are rare, but that doesn't mean they're not there
By Stephen Regenold

Somewhere in the mental file we all have of "ways I don't want to die," deep in the realm of bad dreams, there's an image of a great white shark — black-eyed and toothy, tough-skinned and chomping. Maybe you first saw this 20-foot-long eating machine on Animal Planet. Or maybe it was in "Jaws." Wherever it came from, the image is there.

Ichthyologists, of course, will say you're being paranoid. You can swim and surf and boogie board with nary a worry at almost any beach on the planet. You are not a seal. Sharks do not want to eat you.

Or do they?

In Images: North America's Top Shark-Attack Beaches

New Smyrna Beach in Volusia County, Fla., is the shark-attack capital of the world, according to a database called the International Shark Attack File. Each year, thousands of people dip their toes and then jump in, stroking past the surf and into a zone that's literally thick with sharks. To date, 210 attacks have been reported there.

"Most people who have swum in and around New Smyrna have been within 10 feet of a shark in their lifetime," says George Burgess, an ichthyologist and fisheries biologist at the University of Florida who maintains the International Shark Attack File (ISAF).

North America is home to dozens of beaches like New Smyrna, where swimmers and sharks intermix even though the humans may never know it. When the rare attack happens, Burgess says, it's usually a predatory mistake. "In the surf zone, where many attacks happen, sharks need to make quick decisions," he says. "Humans on surfboards — hands splashing, feet kicking — can trigger a shark to think there's trouble or a wounded animal, and it looks like an easy meal."

With its thousands of miles of coastlines and millions of beachgoers, the United States sees more shark-human interaction than any other country. Search the ISAF database and you'll find incidents at beaches from South Carolina to Oregon. There are so many reports, in fact, that California, Florida, Hawaii, North Carolina, and Texas each have dedicated sections in the "Stats, Trends, Analysis" area. In Northern California, seal populations draw great white sharks like flies to fertilizer. When surfers suit up at places like Bolinas Beach and Stinson Beach, they're catching waves in one of the world's most dangerous predator's habitat. Patric Douglas, owner of Shark Diver, an ocean guiding outfit in San Francisco, calls Stinson "the granddaddy of all shark beaches." He says, "It's common to see 18-footers buzz by surfers bobbing in the waves."

On the North Shore of Oahu, Hawaii, tiger and hammerhead sharks mix with dolphins and humpback whales. There are dozens of popular surf beaches here, including Velzyland Beach and the Leftovers Break to name just two. Though untold thousands surf and swim here each year without incident, attacks do occur. And at Kahana in West Maui, (not North American, but American) tiger sharks are known to roam. But according to Laleh Mohajerani, executive director of the shark conservation organization Iemanya Oceanica, sharks are not looking to interfere with humans in the water. Our shark-attack fears are irrational.

"You are more likely to be hit by lightning," she says.

Indeed, there's no arguing the numbers. Of the hundreds of millions of people who enter the ocean each year, almost none are touched.

For 2007, the ISAF cites 50 attacks at U.S. beaches, most of which resulted in minor bite marks and puncture wounds that needed nothing more than a few sutures. "Many attacks are hit and runs — a quick bite and away," says Burgess. "Few sharks re-attack, as they release the foot or calf after realizing it's not their normal food."

Even in the Bahamas, where the warm water attracts large tiger sharks, the ISAF records fewer than 10 attacks over the last several decades. Unfortunately for the shark advocates, one fatal attack occurred in February 2008, prompting a new round of fears.

But for most people, fiery emotions override even the coldest numbers. A single scary story — be it on the news or in an effects-heavy Hollywood production — will destroy the efforts of hundreds of scientists trying to communicate on research and logic.

"The common public perception today of a shark is that of a man-eater," says Burgess. "We have an innate fear for big predators and natural forces we can't control."

In Images: North America's Top Shark-Attack Beaches



Thanks to thousands of annual beachgoers and untold toothy predators hunting offshore, New Smyrna is the shark attack capital of the world. That's according to the International Shark Attack File, which cites 210 attacks in the beach's home county of Volusia, Fla. But miles of white sand and consistent surf breaks continue to draw vacationers and locals alike into New Smyrna's waters.



Number two on the International Shark Attack File for unprovoked attacks is Oahu, where tiger sharks, Galapagos sharks and sandbar sharks congregate in high numbers, especially near beaches on the island's north shore. This doesn't stop surfers, who flock to Velzyland Beach, the Leftovers Break and dozens of additional wave-beaten beaches where sharks search and swim.

Thanks in large part to Jaws, great white sharks inspire unparalleled fear when it comes to swimming in the ocean. At Bolinas Beach, a secluded town with a namesake beach that's just north of San Francisco, 15-foot-long beasts and known to dwell under the waves where surfers play.

In the past 100 years, there have been 90 reported shark confrontations on beaches in this county on Florida's east coast. Visitors head east from Orlando to the ocean to dip toes in the tepid waters at Cocoa Beach, Jetty Park and Klondike Beach, a 24-mile-long wilderness beach accessible only by foot in Canaveral National Seashore preserve.

The deep blue water of Kahana Beach, near its namesake town on the west cost of Maui, is home to sea turtles, humpback whales and… tiger sharks. Laleh Mohajerani, executive director of the shark conservation organization Iemanya Oceanica, says the massive predators swim near the protective offshore reef that makes the beach a popular swimming spot.

Though it didn't happen at a beach, the death of an Austrian lawyer who was diving with sharks in February off the Bahamas has focused attention on these tropical waters. Patric Douglas, owner of Shark Diver, an ocean guiding outfit in San Francisco, says they're "among the shark-iest places on the planet." He's personally seen 14-foot-long tiger sharks off the beaches where millions of tourists swim and sunbathe each year.

In the shadow of Marin County's Mt. Tamalpais, great white sharks come to swim in the shallows of Stinson Beach. Patric Douglas has sighted them at this beach—which is a neighboring stretch of sand eastward of Bolinas Beach (also on this list, in the number three spot)—in less than 20 feet of water. "They're coming to feed on seals, though it's not uncommon for surfers to see them," he says.

The International Shark Attack File reports three unprovoked attacks in the waters off Baja California Sur over the past decades. But the beaches of La Paz—a harbor city of 190,000 people—are relatively safe, despite the hammerheads and giant whale sharks that swim nearby. The latter is a filter feeder that's the largest fish species on Earth, and a resident of these waters.

Peter Benchley's original 1974 novel, "Jaws," was inspired by incidents at this New Jersey beach in 1916. In an unprecedented 11 days, five major shark attacks took place along the Jersey Shore, four of which were fatal. Reports cited blood turning the water red and sharks following victims toward the beach. Today, shark sightings are rare, but the legend lives on in the surf and swells of these tepid Atlantic waters.