At certain times of the year, it's still that way. Almost ...
Posted on 06/25/2005 2:19:19 PM PDT by Tumbleweed_Connection
A 14-year-old girl died Saturday after a shark attacked her while she and a companion were swimming in the Gulf of Mexico, authorities said.
The teenagers were swimming on boogie boards about 100 yards offshore when they noticed a dark shadow in the water, authorities said.
"One of the swimmers was bitten. It was the lower portions of her body," said Walton County Sheriff's spokeswoman Donna Shank. The other swimmer was not injured.
Both girls swam to shore, and the victim was taken to a hospital where she was pronounced dead, Shank said. The girl was on vacation from Louisiana, but her name was not immediately released.
The attack happened near the Camping on the Gulf Holiday Travel Park, about 45 miles east of Pensacola on the Florida Panhandle.
Patrick O'Neill, the campground's general manager, refused to comment.
Authorities closed about 20 miles of beaches to swimming shortly after the attack. It's the height of the summer tourism season along the coast and the beaches were packed with people.
"This doesn't happen very often at all — very, very seldom," said Mike McKee, front desk supervisor at the nearby Hilton Sandestin Beach Resort and Spa.
Florida had the largest number of documented shark attacks worldwide in 2003 with 30, according to statistics compiled by the American Elasmobranch Society and the Florida Museum of Natural History. There were 12 attacks off the coast of Florida last year.
At certain times of the year, it's still that way. Almost ...
Well, you are right about wishing you were dead from the awful pain away from a hospital.
I was under the impression man-of-wars aren't around here, but maybe my impression is wrong. Of course, a Jellyfish sting isn't fun either.
I think the beaches in that area are the best in the country. They lost about 1/2 of it to storms last year and it is still nice. The water is usually quite nice, warm in May and riptides sometimes, but not often. The only gripe I had this year was they are leaving the sea grass on the beach. There is a big inflow of it in June and they used to rake it off the beach but they aren't anymore. It smells and is ugly. But the water is like in the islands.
I went to Fla when I was a teen.
I swam out real far to a sand bar.
I stood there looking how far I was from shore and started a mild anxiety attack.
No way I was a strong enough swimmer to make it back to shore with anything resembling speed.
I back floated and kicked in,and stayed out of anything deeper than ankle.
Almost everything in the ocean is a carnivore,
There are things that will kill you, eat you and suck your bones.
When I was a kid we would literally just walk to one of the lakes and jump in.
Play it safe make it less than two feet. - tom
By Douglas McCollam Posted Wednesday, July 18, 2001, at 12:00 AM PT
On July 6, as 8-year-old Jessie Arbogast waded in about 2 feet of water along Florida's Gulf Islands National Seashore, a 7-foot-long bull shark ambushed him, tearing off his right arm and a chunk of his right leg. The attack came so near to shore that Jessie's uncle and another beachgoer were able to grab the shark and drag it onto land where park rangers shot it, pried its mouth open, and retrieved the severed arm.
The boy almost bled to death and lapsed into a coma. Surgeons reattached the limb, and though Jessie is showing signs of coming to, doctors say it's too soon to know if he'll make a full recovery.
SUCK YOUR BONES!! No way. I mean sharks have dignity.
there are hurricaines too.
And dangerous interstate travel! ...Glad you're home, daredevil.
great pic.
LOL. I am a regular adventure travel buff,,I go to florida. Somehow that is making me laugh!
I noted in May that we saw more dolphins than we have ever seen. And more big fish closer in. But the dolphins were incredible, schools of them all day.
I wouldn't swim in any lake in Florida myself. Even our little lake out our back door has a gator. Those scare me alot.
I thought the Jessie Arbogast shark attack from a couple of years ago happened off one of the Panhandle beaches.
Santa Rosa County I think.
Thanks.
Heard it was a Louisiana girl. You know anything about that?
The shark kills you and eats you.
The hermit crabs, the starfish, million other critters do the bone sucking.
By the way, I did loose a not so distant relative on the Titanic.
I have a fear from childhood of a watery death.
You think there's just ONE gator?? I hope it's old.
Ugh! Sure it wasn't caused by depleted uranium ammo we're using in Iraq? ;^)
The first time I touched the Gulf was near Galveston in July '80. The water had to be 90+ degrees(I work with pools and spas, trust me) and was brown as a glass of Ovaltine.
I didn't tell her but having grown up in the Florida Panhandle, their beaches were simply awful.
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