Shark Attack at South Carolina Beach?
Sunday, May 27th, 2007
Details are still sketchy, but a woman, who’s name has not yet been released, was the victim of a possible shark bite at Garden City Beach on Saturday night.
The reported attack happened at 5 p.m. when the woman, who was in the water to about the middle of her thighs, started screaming. When she came out of the water, she had three gashes on the bottom half of her leg.
She was taken to the hospital for treatment.
[source]
This is because they allow people to clean the fish they catch in the sinks on that pier-all pipes lead to water below. I saw a 12ft Tiger shark cruising under the pier last year. Watch for the baitfish jumping out of water….
Saying that this is due to fish cleaning is a possibility, but another aspect which must be looked at is the time of day that this happened. A general characteristic among sharks is that most feed in the early morning and at dusk. Although when a shark attacks they don’t usually leave just three gashes (cannot really say anything about this though because gashes must be looked at and analyzed), these gashes could be the remnants of a shark nip because a shark may not have only been stimulated by the food from the pier but also may have become hungry due to the time of day. One shark that tends to nip is the spinner shark or the blacktip shark. If this was a bull shark, which are around in these waters, I believe the bite may have been much more life threatening.
I find it is typical within 100yrds of the peir because i have fished off of this pier for 15 years and alot of fisherman tend to catch fish and gut and throw the fish back in when they are just fishin for sport
And everywhere…this happens….people still swim by the stupid pier
i think that this website is very cool
This websitewe is very cool. it helped me with my research paper in Ms. Bakers class at South Pontotoc Mississippi. Sharks have alwys caught my eye with great interests. Every since i saw “jaws” I’ve been into sharks all along. Also there comming out with a jaws 5 which is suppose to be pretty bad.
I can honestly say myrtle beach is a haven for sharks. It shows every potential for the breeding, growth and feeding potential and just an all out place for a large sharks of many species to grow up. But, myrtle beach is not going to share this with the public because the american dollar is worth more to them than the the wellfare of the public tourist. I dare anyone to challenge this!! I think you will find I know what im talking about, swimmers and tourists beware!!!!!! Although this sounds unreal, remember the story of Walter Maxwell, he holds the world record for the tiger shark caught in Cherry Grove, South Carolina, and the story says if you read it true, the shark he caught was the smallest in the group, and that shark still holds the worlds record, so is jaws vacationing in Myrtle Beach? I’m done, so i wish someone could see the potential for a major attack, but it was just a blue fish right right?
Give me a shout out if you agree or disagree.
Yes I agree Myrtle Beach is a feeding ground for sharks. I moved to NC from ohio in 2005. Our first trip to Myrtle Beach was very exciting. We all ran fot the beach. I have work injuries, and had heard the salt water would be a cure-all. My nephew who planned the trip swam really far out. Everyone else followed. 2 eight yr. olds were on Boogie Boards. I saw Jaws and was very hesitant to stay in the water too long. I swam back to shore. When I looked back at the water, my two grown children were so far out they looked like dots in the water. I yelled and beconed for them to come back. Both are expert swimmers so they tempted fate. I swam out and got them. I insisted they return to shore immediately.My son was last. As I watched him swimming full speed ahead..I noticed a dark shadow..with a white bottom..swimming right beside him..trying to overtake him. Just then he reached the shallow and the large fish made a u-turn. He was petrified. The life guard said it was a Bluefish.Yeah,right!! The following year we went back in september. Once again the family threw caution to the wind. I stayed in ankle deep water, collecting shells. I contiued to warn the fam to stay close. They did not listen. As I watched them from shore with my 5yr. old nephew. He started to point and yell shark. When I looked up, I say a herd of Dolphins. They were up out of the water like flipper. Dancing on their tails, flipping,talking, like they were warning us. The next thing I saw were hundreds of fish jumping out of the water in a straight line. They looked like a fountain spraying up out of the water. I screamed and jumped for everyone to get out of the water. Just then two guys jogging came up..they said if you have someone in the water you better get them out. Because down the beach sharks are circling close to shore. I looked down the beach about 200 yards..and sure enough..it looked like a scene from jaws. People stampeding out of the water, screaming, dragging kids. Everyone got out of the water safe. Later our room was almost on the top of the hotel. We looked with binoculars and could see the waters infested with several large sharks, too many to count. I felt so stupid to have been in the ocean for even a moment. I do believe shark attacks are being covered up. In order to continu to attract tourist blood money.
Down here on the Grand Strand, many bites are indeed Bluefish, not sharks. As an avid surfer, I can says I’ve had only one or two shark encounters. Get of the water, take a break or get a drink, then get back to your fun! Attacks are not very frequent around here–I seriously doubt anyone is covering up the numbers in order to attract more tasty tourists.
Be aware of schools of fish, however. Schools of smaller fish only attract the larger predators. Whenever I find myself in the middle of a migrating school, I get out of the water until they pass.
this is why if your in their environ ment and dont want to be food.. stay outta the water and in the POOL!!! its their world. we are just tourist there.
I live in Surfside and surf all over the grand strand especially in Garden City and I’ve seen a lot of black tips off the pier and a few fins graze across the water while I’m out there from time to time. yeah its true all the guts from the fish cleaning drain right into the water so sharks are chillen around the pier lookin for a handout. a couple weeks ago a fisherman threw back a baby blacktip into the water only to get eaten by a 9 foot black tip almost instantly that came from under the pier. everyone who surfs knows that sharks are all around you but chances are they wont mess with u if u dont act like an idiot, and there haven’t been many attacks on the grand strand, its not a conspiracy. some precautions are dont splash around (u sound like a wounded fish), dont wear shiny jewlery or clothing into the water (once again resembling a fish), and dont go into the water while bleeding. usually when they bite you its an investagatory bite, but even an investagatory bite from a tiger or bull shark can screw you up big time. all in all the grand strand is great, all you can do is enjoy yourself and take standard precautions.
If i just go to boogie board [the deepest i ever go is perhaps to my neck and i am 5ft tall], will i be okay?? i’m scared to death…i’ve nvr been to garden city before…when i visit my family here, we go to myrtle beach [i'm frm japan]
i go down all the time to sc and nothing bad happens
Ok! I really shouldn’t be reading this. I’m heading to Myrtle on Monday!:/
i love your pitchers there so asom by the way i live in cananda oh can you give me ray mysterios phone number.
hay give christina my phone number.
My family and I are leaving to Myrtle Beach Saturday. My family has NEVER been to the ocean. We had friends who said they LOVED Myrtle Beach so we deceided to take the kids there when school is over for the summer. I was reading these comments and it’s a bit scary. My kids wont go in deep but how deep is too deep for sharks? should we be worried? should i let them in the water?
We have been going to G C beach for 9 years and have only heard of one attack and that was north of G C. There are usually so many people swimming in the ocean during the summer vacation time that if sharks were really interested in a human meal, they could have a smorgasboard!! We are cautious but continue to go!! I guess sharks can attack at any of the beaches along our coastlines. It’s a wonderful place to vacation but just remember that is their home that we are swimming in!!
Yes, sharks swim in the ocean. No, they arn’t mindless beasts that just want to eat you.
I live in Charleston SC and ive swam in both charleston and myrtle beach waters and never seen a shark while swimming. but it really depends on the time that you are swimming in the ocean. The only time ive seen a shark was when I was in Myrtle Beach and people were fishing off of the pier and they had caught a baby shark. And if you are going to swim in the ocean dont swim by the pier, because most people fish off of piers, and you are asking for trouble. Also, sharks usually dont mean to attack people on purpose they mistake us for fish, or turtles. They aren’t out to just attack humans.
wow i shouldnt be reading this its making me so nervous .im leaving for south carolina myrtle beach tomm with my family. and after reading all these comments im thinking about not even stepping in the water . are all these comments true .should i be aware of anything while im there?
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If you really want to know the facts about sharks instead of amateur rantings and ravings, do what I did and do your own research. A good place to find out the FACTS of shark attacts in our area (Myrtle Beach)is to get on your computer, type in “shark bites Myrtle Beach SC” then click on the “North Myrtle Beach Local News Past Articles Second Half 2007″ website. There are many informative FACTS about shark appearances in our area and about habitat, ocean bottom topography and common sense tips to be worry free. The odds are better that one would be struck by lightning than have a shark bite you. Of the millions of beach goers that hit our beaches each year, there have only been 23 bites, none life threathening, in the past 10 years. The last fatal bite, here, was in 1883. Let’s stop spreading the Hollywood version of sharks and get the truth about them out there.
me and my fiance were at cherry grove pier fishing when some fishermen were cleaning their flounder and throwing the scraps into the water i put a piece of cut bait on my pole because i saw the silouette of a Monster fish. when my bait hit the water a full grown spinner shark surfaced and ate my meat and cut my line in one chomp it was only about 300 ft from the shore line and surfers closer than that. many dangers in the ocean not to be mistaken for a swiming pool. next time you go to the beach take a walk on the pier and see what is being pulled out of the water u are swiming in.
You know what? Myrtle beach is not there for tourist”blood” money. Sharks are at every beach all over the world. I grew up there and i’ve never seen a shark other than in Ripley’s Aquarium. I know they are out there they live there. None of them are out to eat all the tourist they can see. I’ll explain this like i do to my 6 yr old. If you couldn’t go to the grocery store and had to find food. How would you know if you liked it or not unless you tested it. A shark depending on size can swim in 2-3 feet of water. Great whites can almost beach them selves for food. Shark week is on right now. go watch discovery channel. Just look for jumping fish and don’t go out to deep in the dusk or dawn. Shiny things resemble a bait ball shifting so don’t wear shiny things. And have fun. Oh and if Myrtle beach was in it for tourist blood money they’d charge you to go to the beach.
Of course Myrtle Beach Tourism would not lie to you about sharks in the water.. they are too busy trying to convince you that they DONT want BIKE WEEK there in which brings in 2.5 million a year between the two bike rally’s,, the white & the black. Who has time to be worried about SHARKS!!
has there ever been any shark attacks on the charelston beach i go their like 3 times a year
I have been vacationing in North Myrtle Beach every year since 2000 and last year I was on the Cherry Grove Pier and we saw a 12 Ft. Tiger Shark swimming by the pier. Everyone on the pier was watching the thing swimming around the pier for about 20 minutes. Let me just say, that people can say what they want about how certain sharks will only be seen close to shore! PLEASE! You are sadly mistaken. I am not trying to scare anyone, but Myrtle Beach SC was just put on the top 10 list of the most dangerous beaches in the world in terms of Sharks! I have seen sharks at Myrtle Beach from little to 12FT. in size. They are there and yes they can and will attack when they so choose. Statistics are on your side, but thinking you know more than nature will get you in trouble everytime. Respect the water and respect that you are in there environment. They live there and you are a stranger in there house!
I am at myrtle beach now, and yesterday they called everyone outta the water because of a so called shark. 20 mins later we see a school of fish and right behind them was a damn shark. after reading some of these saying that sharks come that close to the shore I dont wanna go back in there, the hell with that. it makes you really wonder about going back in the ocean.
Those Sharks !!! It scares the H out of me ! I am so glad I found this site, I really wish more people would write in it, because it is so informative for people that really don’t know just what the Ocean is all about ! This will be the 6th time I have been to Myrtle Beach I SO LOVE IT, leaving in 3 weeks ! The thing I learned right off the bat when I went in that Ocean is you just can not be careful enough, really. The first time I was there I drifted out with 2 other people talking, and we thought we would never get back into Shore ! There were fish jumping like crazy about 12 feet from us, none of us knew that could mean there was a Shark !!! We were VERY LUCKY to have got back into that shore, and I really mean LUCKY !! After that I found out there was a shark sighted, that did it for ME !! Lesson learned REAL FAST ! The second year before I left, I read everything I could on the Internet about the Ocean, about Sharks, what colors they are attracted to what colors they aren’t, I could just go on & on !! The last time I was at Myrtle Beach I went in about 2 feet of water and that was IT ! Drove 1,300 miles to go in 2 feet of water ! Reason being The Life Guard kept calling everyone out of the water, because there were Sharks being sighted ! I was sitting in my chair a few days later, and looking out at the water, the Life Guard was picking up chair’s for the day, I said OH look there are fish jumping like crazy out there, and he went running getting everyone out of the water. The next day the Beach was closed the whole day, because of Sharks !!! Of course there are Sharks, that is their HOME ! Who am I to enter it !! SO I will go to Myrtle Beach knowing there are Sharks in that water, I will stand there saying to myself OH I just wish I had the NERVE to go in deeper, but I WON’T, because it scares the HECK OUT OF ME JUST THINKING ABOUT IT !!!!!! All you have to do is read what you all are Posting here, and that will keep a person out of the water for GOOD !! I have to say it is good that someone is warning people about the Sharks, because how in the world would you ever really expect there to be so many !!!????
A.B
I was at Surfside beach on Sept 4th, 2009 with a friend. The fish were jumping out of the water – we didn’t realize that was a sign of sharks being in the area. We were counting the fish jumping, when my friend thought we should leave the water. He said he had a funny feeling about the water. We left the water and within a few minutes of being back on the beach. The lifeguard began calling everyone out of the water. My friend then told me he had seen a fin about 9″ above the water a couple of times. He said at first he thought it was dolphins playing because we seen them swimming there the night before. When he asked the lifeguard, the lifeguard told him sharks were in the water. There was a lot of fishing going on around us on the beach as well. The following day we were at the pier (Garden City) and seen a shark swimming around the pier — about 50′ from the swimmers. — The shark that was in the water with us was about 30-40′ away from us. To close for comfort for me. Ruined my ocean swimming — I love the water, it’s too bad they allow fishing around the beaches. It should be only on the piers and people should stay more then 200′ away from the pier. Love the local people!!! Love the area!!! I would leave NY in a minute if only there was work there.
I go fishing out on Garden City Pier all the time. When people fish with bait, including small fish, there are bound to be sharks awaiting. You can literally throw a fish head in the water over the pier and see 2 to 3 sharks just swimming and lurking around it. My suggestions would be not to swim anywhere around the pier and don’t go into deep water in the morning or around dusk.
C MON NOM CLÉO!!
South Carolina comes in at #9 in the top 10 most dangerous places for shark attacks world wide and let me tell you, that totally freaked me out. I think the scariest thing to me is not being able to see whats under the water with you and whats watching or stalking you as you are swimming without a care in the world. . . I mean yes we can all be aware of our surroundings, not wear flashy jewlery (which looks like scales), not splash around (which simulates a wounded fish or animal), wear dark colors, not be bleeding etc. . . but honestly? how does that help you when you are just standing in thigh deep water? I mean from what i have researched and from what ive read on here, it seems like no matter how careful you are and try to do everthing right, if they want to bite you they will!! and there have been sharks who literally beach themselves going after food! Although it is really rare!! Sharks don’t like the taste of humans at all, once they bite they either let go which cold severe a major vein or artery anyways causing you to go into shock and drown or die from the blood loss , or they eat so quick it doesnt click until after they’ve swallowed and by then its too late. It is very scary to hear about attacks or see them on tv shows!! Trust me!! but I mean, like the statistics say, you are more likely to die in a car accident on the way to the beach then have an encounter or attack from a shark. Life is too short to deprive yourself from the things we love to do most just because we are scared of the unknown! but don’t think for a second that its completley safe because its not!! no matter what time of day or how deep you go, it could still happen. It is their home and they are curious about us just as we are of them!! so be safe and have fun! Keep your eyes open for the warning signs of a shark being present, and do what you can to stay safe