USVI-On-Line

I don't mean to scare anyone....but when I read this article, the only thing I could think of was Vicki and her Bull Shark. YIKES!

http://www.local6.com/news/13435857/detail.html

I could not stop thinking about that d*mn shark last night! I love the water and sea creatures but I dont really want to be bitten by anything.

Thanks just great. I'm going to have to start drinking as soon as I get up every morning to have the nerve to get in the water. Are sharks attracted to the scent of rum??

Cypress, Im with you and Im also packing my Xanax!

I apologize for submitting this post....I did it before thinking it out. I guess the really important part of the article is:
"Marine biologists said the chances of being attacked by a shark are 1 in 11.5 million."
My bad. Again sorry. Dumb me. ....mia

Is OK Mia... Im just a nervous nellie!

Me too....which is why I should have known better. ....mia

I'm guessing the reason the ratio is so low is because 11.45 million people never go the be beach.

Thanks for making me laugh!

cypressgirl wrote:I'm guessing the reason the ratio is so low is because 11.45 million people never go the be beach.

LMAO

I don't know if the statistics of how rare attacks are will comfort those who are worried, but I've been in just about every conceivable situation to be attacked, and have never had, as far as I know, even a close call.

I grew up surfing, and a surfer's arms paddling are said to emulate the sight and sounds of an injured fish struggling on the surface, which is like a "buffet open" sign to feeding sharks.

As rare as good waves are here on the east coast of Florida, we didn't let things like schools of migrating bait fish keep us out of the water if there were swells to be ridden.

I've gone spearfishing while scuba diving and had fish on a stringer trailing through the water for almost an hour. No attacks.

We did a dive a few years ago (my brother's first post-certification dive) where shortly after descending to the reef line we saw a quite large (close to 8' I'd say) bull shark, then later on the same dive a group of about six black tips. Other than a shark feeding dive we went on in the Bahamas, those sharks likely exceeded the number of non nurse sharks I'd seen collectively in over twenty years of diving.

I know it's easy to say, but if you are snorkeling and are fortunate enough to actually see a shark, do your best to treasure what is a fairly rare sighting. IF (and again the odds are HIGHLY stacked against this) this animal was interested in trying to attack you, turning and swimming away as fast as you can wouldn't likely be very helpful, and if as is almost certainly the case it's not interested in you (other than ensuring you don't get too close) swimming away will deprive you of a chance to see one of the underwater world's most awesome creatures!

Cypress,
I was hoping that you wouldn't read this post!
You'd better go snorkeling in November!
Just don't watch Jaws anytime before the trip.

While I'm at it....I'm sorry Vicki.
You are brave and adventurous....you did exactly what you should have done by savoring a very rare experience. I on the other hand, being a self confessed scaredy cat, would have peed my pants and missed the whole thing. ....mia

Yikes! Seriously, it was very cool to see a shark in open waters and Cpt. Clark had pretty well prepped us for the possibility and told us that incidents of shark attack in the VI are practically zero. However, had we known it was a bull shark at the time (and who knows, maybe it wasn't), we probably would have been smarter and not hung around tempting fate!

God protects the innocent and the stupid.