phoenixinoz

We regularly visit a lovely little island about 40 mins away from here.

Seems a young girl / woman got killed there today by a shark.

Poor kid. Her parents must be devastated

http://www.smh.com.au/news/national/...609983461.html

Stitch

God, it makes you think. Really feel for the family.

Ginny

karenjc

Tragic news. It just shows that even with the shark nets up nothing is fool proof

phoenixinoz

Yeh...I know. Me too Ginny

The thing is...the place where it happened is a lovely little island. The waters are so calm and not deep at all. We go there a lot with friends and take a picnic..it's that sort of place. You never think it happens but I suppose because it's rare, we get complacent

I feel for the poor parents cos after amputating her arms and leg they will have been tortured enough thinking she might pull through

sunbaker

Thats so scary

my boys have started going over to straddie with their friends and i hate them going, we want this life style for them but what we havent got is the experience of living here, luckily their mums friend is a ranger on the island and they only go onto the controlled beaches but doesnt stop me worrying until they walk in the door.

Donna

phoenixinoz

I'm not sure there are shark nets there Karen?

Like you said, nothing is foolproof.

I guess the thing is never to be too complacent.

Dont let it spoil things, but always keep a look out

Stitch

Scary. I am trying just now to educate the kids about bugs and stuff. Hopefully they'll get more at school when we get over. Still young enough I think, 8 and 4 to get so know all about water and stuff.


Ginny

232Bar

Mild correlation between this happening at Amity Point, and Jaws being set on Amity island

phoenixinoz

Yeh...my son goes there too sunbaker.....

He went camping with his mates for a week in the school holidays and in fact is going again tomorrow for another week.

He came back "sunkist" and a beautiful colour last time, hair turning blonde with the sun and looked really, really healthy. He and his mates had a whale of a time and as you say, they have a brilliant life here doing these things. Something kids of their age can only dream about back in UK and it's all on their doorstep

The thing is, we need to keep things in perspective and not let it spoil matters. Lets face it....this is part and parcel of living here. All we can do is ask our kids to be extra vigilant.

Statistically, our kids are probably safer in the water than on the roads.....so we need to keep reminding ourselves of this

phoenixinoz

I know!

I remember taking my parents to that part of the island last year and we all commented on the same thing.....never did we ever think though that it would happen

lucyb

I was just about to type that too! Spooky. How very sad and what a dreadful way to die.

YoSemite

at the end of the day we're in the sharks territory and there's always the danger that you can be attacked.

i'm really interested in this attack for a number of reasons.... most shark attacks are bite and release attacks (1 bite, shark swims off after assessing we're not really suitable food) but this seems to have een more than that, especially if she did lose both arms a leg and have bites to her torso.

also says the girl was diving in waist deep waters. which to me seems very shallow....

can't wait to hear if they manage to identify the type of shark!

i'm off to consult my book.

phoenixinoz

That's what I found disturbing to YoSemite....the fact it was so shallow.

The water there always seems so calm there too but there is a jetty so maybe it's ideal for sharks? Who knows

YoSemite

i've done some diving round there myself and altho i've seen a few wobbes i never saw anything bigger.


saying that if it was just bystanders who weren't divers saying the water was waist deep, it was probalby about 6m or something!! hehehe

232Bar

Call me warped, but I'd prefer to go doing something I enjoy - diving, flat out on a motorbike etc. Can't think of anything worse than a boring death.