Any shark attacks in the western caribean?

[Darlene]

We are wanting to go snorkling and play in the caribean ocean, but now we are scared of all those shark attacks. Has anyone heard of any shark attacks in the caribean or are they all in Florida?

[Donna]

Hi Darlene,
The only recent ones I've heard about were in Florida, not sure about the Caribbean.

Donna
Tuesday Chat Host

There were two people attacked in the Bahamas, which isn't Florida

Darlene, go snorkeling and don't worry about it. The odds of getting bitten by a shark are unbelievably small. Heck, Volusia County is the most likely place in the world to be bitten and the odds there are still less likely than winning the lottery. The waters around here, (yes I live right in the area), have always had lots of small and not so small sharks that feed in shallow water that is very cloudy. Common sense says don't splash into the water in the evening, in cloudy water, where bait fish are and where you can see sharks feeding, but people still do and those are the ones getting bitten. The ONLY reason you are hearing so much about it is because of media hype which started because of that poor child getting attacked by a Bull Shark over near Pensacola. It made big news so the media in it's frenzy to outsell others have gone nuts reporting every nick or scrap caused by a shark. It's nothing to laugh about, but you still should not be overly worried about them.
Jim

[Jill]

Hello,
I have heard of shark attacks in Florida and in the Bahams which is in the Caribbean but I haven't heard of any western caribbean shark attacks.

[Cindy]

Just got back from the western Caribbean. Didn't hear about any shark attacks there, just Florida.

I was a little nervous about Stingray City at Grand Cayman. It's on a sandbar exposed to the open sea, but there was no trouble at all.

At Xel-Ha near Calica, we were told not to worry, because the inlet was blocked with a net so that large fish couldn't make it through. The snorkeling there was wonderful!

We just returned from the West Carib. and we went snuba and snorkeling at Cozumel, and Grand Cayman, I asked at both locations if there had been any recent problems and was told at both places there hadn't been any problems. We spent a lot of time in the water and never saw any sharks. We did see a lot of Baraccuda in Cozumel, some were up to 5 feet long, but they didn't bother us, we may have been a bother to them following them around taking pics, etc.. Just don't wear anything shinny.