Girl Bitten By Shark at Hilton Head

wow.... mi family is going to hilton head in 4 days and i wanted to know if it is safe to go parasailing, and i ask this because for a minute or two you are neck deep in open water with hundreds of meters of water underneath of you...so i wanted to know if it was safe... i would greatly appreciate a response....thanks

oh this is 'great' news. shark week just started on discovery channel. well at least i'm not going to hilton head to go parasailing anytime soon...lol.
danielle, you should be fine,hon. shark attacks are rare. no matter what the media says. just remember, the media is just looking for sensation. they wouldn't have give it a small blurp if it was a sting ray or jellyfish.

well, it's a start. what hilton head really needs is an infestation of land sharks.

oh, dang, i read this happend in like 1883, south carolina averages about 3 shark attacks a year... its not that bad if you come in contact with a shark poke its eye or punch it in the gill they're lil' babies. my family is going to hilton this saturday >.>

Mario Delgado wrote:

well, it's a start. what hilton head really needs is an infestation of land sharks.

I was at Hilton Head and I didn't even see a shark.

But it's still scary.

danielle wrote:

wow.... mi family is going to hilton head in 4 days and i wanted to know if it is safe to go parasailing, and i ask this because for a minute or two you are neck deep in open water with hundreds of meters of water underneath of you...so i wanted to know if it was safe... i would greatly appreciate a response....thanks

No problem. while up in the air just don't look down becuase you have a great view of what's underneath the water. I've seen over 6' sharks swimming less than 100 yards off shore. enjoy!

Been going to HHi for 4 years now...the water is awesome, I just don't go in very far, and don't stay in very long...sharks are one of my irrational fears, but it sso damn scary, I know

my family and i go to Hilton Head Island every year and we hope no one thinks its dangerous because none of us think it is! Also most all of the recent attacks in the 2000's have been in Coligny Beach so maybe if there are not to many people there they'll be less shark attacks. I watched the Shark Week on Discovery channel too! My family and i are going to HHI next week and now I don't know why I watched it! Thank goodness that little girl is ok! She didn't deserve that!

Caroline wrote:

my family and i go to Hilton Head Island every year and we hope no one thinks its dangerous because none of us think it is! Also most all of the recent attacks in the 2000's have been in Coligny Beach so maybe if there are not to many people there they'll be less shark attacks. I watched the Shark Week on Discovery channel too! My family and i are going to HHI next week and now I don't know why I watched it! Thank goodness that little girl is ok! She didn't deserve that!

I watched Shark Week too, and It freaked me out a little bit too.

Two years ago we went shark fishing just off the shore of HHI. I mean barely a 1/4 mile off the shore. You could've jumped out and easily swam to land.

We caught so many sharks that it was exhausting. It was also scarry and eye opening.

Oh yeah, I forgot, the year before that my daughter fell out of a raft into what we believe was either a giant jellyfish or a school of them. She started screaming and everyone ran out of the ocen - they knew. We ran in to get her. When my husband picked her up he was getting stung and the tenacles were falling off of her. Even touching her on the beach, you received a sting.

The only places her body escaped stings were covered by her bathing suit. The rest of her body was welts and inflammation. It was terrifying at the time and just now she'll go back in the ocean. We read about 3000 jellyfish stings and cancelled our vacay for this Saturday. We'll go early next season instead.

we arent going to hhi next week due to the recent jellyfish stings on the island this past week. we're heading up to isle of palms insted.

When we went aug. 11-18 a man caught a shark right off the shore! PLEASE BE CAREFUL!

I live in Hilton Head and swim every weekend. No shark bites and I have all my limbs. The jellyfish are gone this now- stingrays have been a little nasty though... I believe time at the beach is well worth an occasional sting or minor irritation. Ya gotta live baby!

Yes, worry about the stingrays!! I was at Hilton Head last week and got stung! It was awful! We loved the island, though, and definitely plan to go back...I will just make sure that I shuffle my feet!

I have been at Charleston for 4.5 years now and in August about 7pm one night I was stung by a jellyfish. So IOP is pretty safe...only one sting in 4.5 years and I go all the time in the summer. Cant be scared of a little sting...just was itchy and inflammed for about a month.

Hi Donna,

What month did you go in? We are planning on going to HHI the week of August 9. I too am weary of the water now b/c two years ago I was in the water which was just below my knees and was stung by a sting ray, boy did that hurt. I am so sorry to hear about your daughter. Thank God she's okay.

Bitten in 2 feet of water... the sharks are becoming more and more aggressive.

That wouldn't have even been waist deep water for her.

To those who always go swimming and have never been bitten, I think you should consider yourself lucky.

Jane wrote:

Bitten in 2 feet of water... the sharks are becoming more and more aggressive.
That wouldn't have even been waist deep water for her.
To those who always go swimming and have never been bitten, I think you should consider yourself lucky.

Your comment about sharks becoming more agressive shows a total lack of knowledge about ocean life. Remember, if it was natural for us to be in the water we would have been born with gills and fins. It is their environment that we are invading and destroying. We over fish areas and the sharks and other predators have no choice but to search for food closer to shore. The majority of shark attacks are mistaken identity, once they bite, they usually don't care for the taste and release their victim. Of course by this time the damage is already done. Don't get me wrong Ihope theis little girl is OK and recovers fully from this. But, you must remeber that we are in their world, not the other way around.