Wednesday, May 28, 2008

3 shark attacks hurt tourism in Mexican resort area

Close to ten days of wall to wall shark media coverage and we still do not know what kind of sharks were involved in these unprecedented attacks.

As far as sharks are concerned knowing what species you're dealing with is 90% of how best to avoid them.

IHUATANEJO, Mexico (AP)
-- No one could remember a shark attack along this resort-studded stretch of Mexican coast popular with surfers and Hollywood's elite. Many of the large predators had been pulled from the ocean by fishermen. So when sharks attacked three surfers in less than a month, two fatally, it was unthinkable.

The latest attack came Saturday, when a shark chomped down on the arm of surfing enthusiast Bruce Grimes, an American expat who runs a surf shop in Zihuatanejo.

Grimes and a handful of other surfers were out on dark, choppy waters when he felt something lift his board. He managed about five strokes before teeth sank into his arm. "Shark!" he screamed, wresting his arm back. Grimes made it to shore, escaping with a few gashes.

"There wasn't any time to panic," he said. "I thought: 'Don't want to die. Don't want to lose my arm.' "

Only later did the 49-year-old Florida native learn a local surfer had been killed by a shark at a neighboring beach the previous day. Less than a month before that, a visitor from San Francisco, California, was killed while surfing another nearby beach.

Before that, shark attacks were unheard of in Zihuatanejo. University of Florida expert George Burgess was in the area Wednesday interviewing witnesses, going over autopsy reports and checking beaches to find out why the sharks had suddenly become so aggressive.

Shark Diver On "Wejetset Magazine"

It's always nice to get noticed in your time and today Shark Diver was noticed in a big way by Wejetset Magazine the webs source for all things travel gear related.

Over the years we have noticed a number of sites like these. Keeping fresh travel content alive on these sites is always a challenge.

From the initial look these guys are masters of the art and we look forward to seeing more sharky content up in the coming months.

Oh, and by the way, we highly suggest snagging the Magnetic Sudoku which provides endless gameplay and portability...you know, in between 90 foot shark dives somewhere tropical.