Scarey Stuff From Google Earth

[bust]

I take my son surfing at Bondi at least a couple of times a week.

This actually has made me question just how safe our beaches really are.

http://www.australiancoastalwatch.com.au/index.php/news/bnshark14432tx.article.html

[Badger77]

I flew backwards out of my chair and smacked the back of my head on the floor...thanks.

[BelgianBoy]

no damage to the chair then ?

 

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

Many years ago I was partying down in Fort Lauderdale beach waiting for a Sunday football match of New England against Miami Dolphins for which we had a bus to get to the stadium in Miami and tickets for the game. We were staying at a nice hotel on the beach, swimming and tanning and drinking large quantities of beer.

 

I met a guy in a bar there and we got to talking. Seems he was the pilot of one of those small aircraft that haul those banner advertising signs along the beach all day long advertising bars and such to the sunbathers (This particular bar having a nice poolside dance and topless contest of some very appealing young ladies - hence the reason I was there).

 

As we were talking this pilot asked me if I went swimming at the beaches here. I said sure. He said to 'be very careful and watch out for the sharks'.

 

'Er, what sharks' I said.

 

He then told me that while he flies up and down the beaches he sees many people in the water. He said he can also see many many sharks under the water 'circling' the swimmers as they play and float in the water. He stressed the MANY MANY part. Said there were so many that he took a video camera along one day to prove to a friend of his who was a TV news announcer that what he said was very true, as the TV guy was calling bullshit. The vdo ended up on the evening news and created quite a sensation (for which the Florida tourism board was not very happy about).

 

It might be on Utube. Dunno. I'll have a look and see if I can find it or another.

 

The pilot said he was sort of amazed there were not more reports of shark attacks along the Florida eastern coast, as there were tons of sharks in the water right near ('among' I think he said) all the tourist bathers.

 

You meet all kinds of interesting people at the titty bars at times. :content:

 

He did say that many of the sharks he saw in the water were considered man-eaters and dangerous to bathers. Lemon sharks, hammerheads, tiger sharks.

 

Going back even more years I was stationed in Jacksonville FLA while in the Navy. I used to surf at a pier on JAX beach, back when you could actually drive and park your car on the sand there on the beach. One day after surfing the beach I went up onto the pier to buy a coke and a sandwich at the surf shop on the pier. As I was getting my sandwich prepared I noticed all these pics on the walls of these fishermen with catches of huge sharks, some much bigget than the man who had caught the thing. I asked the guy behind the counter where these sharks in the pics had been caught. He looked at me kinda funny and said, 'Look at the end of the pier where all the fishermen are fishing. Right there.'

 

 

Another time while I was stationed in JAX I drove onto the beach after a storm. I used to like to jog the beach. I was amazed at what I saw that day. Literally dozens of large sharks were washed up on the shore line after the storm. Some were quite large. Almost all showed signs of having been attacked by other sharks (I suppose this occurred when the larger sharks were stuck and stranded half in and half out of the water). Most had the lower half chewed off, tails and all. It looked like a feeding frenzy had happened. THere were dozens of these shark carcasses along the beach. Mainly Hammerhead sharks I noticed, but there were others, and many were big fuckers.

 

Just some shark tales for you guys.

 

I prefer the west coast of Florida myself. But there do seem to be very many sharks along Florida's east coast, and many are right there where we swim, surf etc.

[Torneyboy]

Nice one

[shygye]

oWp99qTlRik

 

[Central Scrutinizer]

The sharks spoken of in my post were not 200 yards off the coast, but right on the shorline where people swim.

[Central Scrutinizer]

Here's a news blurb from last January from Florida similar to what this guy I spoke with was saying:

 

"On Wednesday morning, the news helicopter for WPTV NewsChannel 5, found at least ONE THOUSAND sharks swimming close to shore."

 

That's a lotta sharks!

 

 

[Flashermac]

Not to worry, sharks only attack swimmers when they are hungry.

 

I wonder if the sharks have a people watch when fishermen are in the area.

 

 

[Julian2]

If you compared the risk of shark attack with that of jumping out of the window of a Pattaya hotel it's pretty minimal. But then I don't see people giving up Pattaya either.

Most sharks like Tigers and Bull sharks are scavengers and hang around city beaches eating rubbish. they're pretty well fed and there aren't a lot of shark related fatalities in those areas.

I know of a guy who regularly surfs a big break off the Cape Du Couedic seal colony on Kangaroo Island where real sharks swim and feed. I reckon he's a statistic waiting to happen.