Three of the World’s Most Shark Infested Beaches
Posted August 7, 2009 , trackbackI tried to learn how to surf once. My boyfriend (who is now my husband) bought me a longboard for my birthday and took me out surfing in Cayucos. It was almost impossible to paddle out–me with my noodle arms that earned me the childhood nickname “T-Rex.” But I did it and there we were, bobbing in the ocean that suddenly seemed so much bigger than it ever had from the sand. “Look!” my boyfriend said, “Dolphins!” And then he took the next wave in and left me there to wonder how he was so sure those fins were that of dolphins smiling smart and not those of sharks most certainly out to eat me. I never did surf again, my arms too skinny and my imagination too fat, and my boyfriend eventually commandeered my birthday present longboard as his own, which I somehow think was the plan all along.
I don’t know how surfers do it–bob out there with nothing but a board and their thoughts. I am too macabre, too weak, too yellow maybe, my toes tingling with the maybe of it all. So what if more people die from car crashes, wasps, from snakes and bees, from drowning? There is just something about a shark that holds a special place primal cold in my nightmares. So in honor of Shark Week, I give you three of the World’s Sharkiest Beaches (based on nothing but my own research of the www):
Catch of the day. http://www.flickr.com/photos/zainedriscoll/3623710592/
New Smyrna Beach, Florida holds the dubious honor of being called The Shark Attack Capital of the World. Surrounded on all sides by water–the Atlantic Ocean, the Intracoastal Waterway, Mosquito Lagoon and Indian River–New Smyrna Beach boasts subtropical weather ideal not only for tourists and beach-goers, but also attractive to sharks: tiger sharks, blacktips, spinners and more. Given the large shark population and the increasing amount of people swmming and surfing in the waters just off the coastline, it is no wonder New Smyrna Beach holds the title of Shark Capital of the World.
Cape of Good Hope. http://www.flickr.com/photos/haakon/10398408/
Of course no discussion of shark attacks would be complete without mention of the coastline of South Africa. Here there has been documented footage of Great Whites leaping from the water to feast on seals, a watery ballet of grisy proportion. And it doesn’t even truly matter which particular beach you choose on South Africa’s eastern coastline—from Cape Town, up the Garden Route, and beyond to Durban. The entire area is famously shark infested. The fishing village of Gansbaai near Cape Town, for example, is known as Shark Alley for its unrivaled density of great whites. And the mouth of Kosi Bay in KwaZulu Natal, is known for its aggressive Zambezi, or bull sharks. Something tells me that it is of little solace to know that most shark attacks are a case of mistaken identity, a shark’s way of poking at something to see what it is. When the poke in question produces a deep gash down the side of one’s innards, it is of no matter that you are not a sea lion but a surfer.
How it got its name. http://www.flickr.com/photos/89044634@N00/24548709/
And then there is the poetically named Red Triangle, that is if the poet were Edgar Allen Poe and the subject the tell-tale shark attack. The Red Triangle is the name given to the roughly triangle-shaped area off the coast of Northern California extending from Bodega Bay, north of San Francisco, out to the Farallon Islands and down to Big Sur. The waters here are snack-rich, full of marine life such as elephant seals, harbor seals, sea otters and sea lions, favorite cuisine of the Great White Shark. Around thirty-eight percent of recorded Great White Shark attacks on humans in the United States have occurred within the Red Triangle - eleven percent of the worldwide total. And it just so happens that the Red Triangle includes my hometown beaches of Stinson, Bolinas, Tomales Bay where the sharks mate, and Ocean Beach where my husband now surfs sheathed in a black wet suit looking for all the world like a seal, a little gamey but good. Here the Great White rides at the tippy top of the food chain, fish and seals at the bottom, and surfers and swimmers only a half notch up from that.
So there you go. From my primal fear to yours, keep your toes tingling and stay dry–Happy Shark Week!
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