SHARE YOUR STORY
As rare as shark attacks are, we’ve received stories since beginning this book.
If you have an incident you’d like to report, please add it below.
We may include your story in a future edition of “Shark Assault”.
Thanks in advance for sharing.
As rare as shark attacks are, we’ve received stories since beginning this book.
If you have an incident you’d like to report, please add it below.
We may include your story in a future edition of “Shark Assault”.
Thanks in advance for sharing.
ONE CLOSE CALL
About 16 years ago, my wife and I and our two young (early teenage) sons went to the Mayan Riviera, south of Cancun, for a week. One afternoon, we treated the boys to para-sailing, while Barb just relaxed on the beach with a book, and when she fell asleep in her chaise, I decided to go windsurfing, which I did a lot at our cottage in Ontario in those days. I just grabbed one of the hotel boards that was lying on the beach. I didn't bother to tell Barb, and the boys were out in a boat, but I figured I'd only go for 20 minutes or so, and I knew how to windsurf. Long story short, the winds were stronger than they looked, and I kept drifting further and further down shore, probably a good mile, and past the last hotel on the beach.
At one point I was blown off the board. Just as my head came up out of the water, the wind got under the sail on the surface, and blew it right up and over the board. The mast clobbered me right on my forehead. I was very lucky not to have been knocked unconscious, but the hit opened up a big gash on my nose and forehead. I was bleeding like crazy.
Surprisingly, for me, I had the good sense to realize I had to get out of the water. I didn't think for one second about the blood attracting sharks; if I had, I probably would've panicked. I managed to swim the 200 yards or so to the beach, dragging the windsurfer with one arm, then dragged the whole thing to the first hotel I came to on the beach. The blood was still flowing down my face and body. The hotel beach guys cleaned me up, put on bandaids, then drove me back to my hotel, etc.
I was stitched up back at my hotel by a doctor, and years later, the scar is pretty much imperceptible, thank goodness. But as he was stitching, I casually asked the doctor if there were any sharks in the area. He looked at me like I was a complete moron and said, 100% sarcastically, "oh no, señor, we have no sharks in Cancun"... like, are you NUTS??... I took it from this response that it was probably a miracle that I was able to swim 200 yards bleeding like the Trevi Fountain, and not be ambushed by at least one hungry shark. I understand that sharks can smell blood literally a mile away, so I can only assume that they were after me, but I beat them to the beach.
I also realized that if the sharks had found me first, there would have been no trace of me, and the windsurfer would've washed up on a beach in Colombia several weeks later. Neither Barb nor my boys would've had any clue what had happened to me.
I look forward to reading Nicole's story. And reflecting how fortunate I am to be alive to read it.
- JIM DEEKS, co-host of Toronto Files weekly public affairs TV show
About 16 years ago, my wife and I and our two young (early teenage) sons went to the Mayan Riviera, south of Cancun, for a week. One afternoon, we treated the boys to para-sailing, while Barb just relaxed on the beach with a book, and when she fell asleep in her chaise, I decided to go windsurfing, which I did a lot at our cottage in Ontario in those days. I just grabbed one of the hotel boards that was lying on the beach. I didn't bother to tell Barb, and the boys were out in a boat, but I figured I'd only go for 20 minutes or so, and I knew how to windsurf. Long story short, the winds were stronger than they looked, and I kept drifting further and further down shore, probably a good mile, and past the last hotel on the beach.
At one point I was blown off the board. Just as my head came up out of the water, the wind got under the sail on the surface, and blew it right up and over the board. The mast clobbered me right on my forehead. I was very lucky not to have been knocked unconscious, but the hit opened up a big gash on my nose and forehead. I was bleeding like crazy.
Surprisingly, for me, I had the good sense to realize I had to get out of the water. I didn't think for one second about the blood attracting sharks; if I had, I probably would've panicked. I managed to swim the 200 yards or so to the beach, dragging the windsurfer with one arm, then dragged the whole thing to the first hotel I came to on the beach. The blood was still flowing down my face and body. The hotel beach guys cleaned me up, put on bandaids, then drove me back to my hotel, etc.
I was stitched up back at my hotel by a doctor, and years later, the scar is pretty much imperceptible, thank goodness. But as he was stitching, I casually asked the doctor if there were any sharks in the area. He looked at me like I was a complete moron and said, 100% sarcastically, "oh no, señor, we have no sharks in Cancun"... like, are you NUTS??... I took it from this response that it was probably a miracle that I was able to swim 200 yards bleeding like the Trevi Fountain, and not be ambushed by at least one hungry shark. I understand that sharks can smell blood literally a mile away, so I can only assume that they were after me, but I beat them to the beach.
I also realized that if the sharks had found me first, there would have been no trace of me, and the windsurfer would've washed up on a beach in Colombia several weeks later. Neither Barb nor my boys would've had any clue what had happened to me.
I look forward to reading Nicole's story. And reflecting how fortunate I am to be alive to read it.
- JIM DEEKS, co-host of Toronto Files weekly public affairs TV show
LOSING MY FEAR
I started skin-diving with a spear gun in 1966 in northern Puerto Rico. At that time, I was very much afraid of sharks: they were considered man-eaters and I believed the first shark that saw me was going to most probably eat me alive. I did see a few isolated sharks in my early diving years but not one threatened me. The first one I saw came at me very fast but turned about 15 feet from me and swam away. Who was the most scared? I would have liked to run on water if I could have! Another came up at a buddy and me from the edge of a deep drop off. It circled us for a short time and left. Curious. It was not until I did the Shark Rodeo at Walkers Cay (Bahamas) in 2001 that my fear of sharks significantly decreased: why would I be the one to be attacked if hundreds of divers had done it before? In 2005 and 2006, I photographed the world’s most famous shark from inside a cage, the white shark by Guadalupe Island. Sharks are definitely dangerous under certain conditions like splashing at the surface, diving in murky water, wearing shiny jewelry or carrying dead fish by you. And yes, there are killer sharks just like we have killers in our own species too. When you think of the thousands of sharks Jacques Cousteau must have swum with but was never hurt, your mindset changes.
- RICHARD BEJARANO
See Richard’s photographs at:
www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/gallery/Gallery.asp
and www.artistrising.com/
I started skin-diving with a spear gun in 1966 in northern Puerto Rico. At that time, I was very much afraid of sharks: they were considered man-eaters and I believed the first shark that saw me was going to most probably eat me alive. I did see a few isolated sharks in my early diving years but not one threatened me. The first one I saw came at me very fast but turned about 15 feet from me and swam away. Who was the most scared? I would have liked to run on water if I could have! Another came up at a buddy and me from the edge of a deep drop off. It circled us for a short time and left. Curious. It was not until I did the Shark Rodeo at Walkers Cay (Bahamas) in 2001 that my fear of sharks significantly decreased: why would I be the one to be attacked if hundreds of divers had done it before? In 2005 and 2006, I photographed the world’s most famous shark from inside a cage, the white shark by Guadalupe Island. Sharks are definitely dangerous under certain conditions like splashing at the surface, diving in murky water, wearing shiny jewelry or carrying dead fish by you. And yes, there are killer sharks just like we have killers in our own species too. When you think of the thousands of sharks Jacques Cousteau must have swum with but was never hurt, your mindset changes.
- RICHARD BEJARANO
See Richard’s photographs at:
www.flmnh.ufl.edu/fish/gallery/Gallery.asp
and www.artistrising.com/
Amazing book. Nicole is definitely. A survivor. I have been to Cancun 10 times in the last 30 years and I scuba dived and snorkeled and parasailed. But I was never scared of a shark attack. I saw a one time snorkeling. I think it was a barracuda. It was about 4 feet long. I looked at him and he looked at me and I went one way and he went the other way. Cancun did change after Hurricane Wilma. And I think the Jet Skiers spooked the shark. Like Nicole said, getting attacked by a shark is like getting hit by lightning. The odds are enormous. You can't be scared of getting in the water. You can get in a car accident any day. Thank you, I really enjoyed the book. And I love nurses. I have a family full of them. I retired from a Medical Center.
- RICHARD BROWN
- RICHARD BROWN
