News of a deadly shark attack in Morro Bay has left the Central Coast surf community is state of shock — and while it kept many people out of the water over the holiday weekend, the tragedy is unlikely to deter most from returning to the sport they love.
On Christmas Eve, a shark thought to be a great white killed a boogie-boarder in an area known as “the Pit” north of Morro Rock.
The body was found around 10:40 a.m. on Friday by a fellow surfer, according to Morro Bay Harbor Director Eric Endersby. The identity of the boogie-boarder has not yet been released.
Word of the death spread quickly among the surf community, and in on a typically busy holiday weekend, the waves off Morro Bay were mostly empty of people.
Mike Jones, owner of the Azhiaziam International surf shop in Morro Bay, said he went down to Morro Rock earlier Sunday morning, where he saw a lot of beachgoers standing on the shore and talking about the lethal encounter.
“Everybody is kind of in shock,” Jones said. “Everyone is watching the waves and nobody is really paddling out. Everyone is tripping out about what just happened,” Jones said.
Bill Bookout, owner of the Pismo Beach Surf Shop and Avila Beach Surf Shop, said that he’s still been doing the same amount of rentals, but that the shark attack is all anybody is talking about. Bookout said that there are plenty of beachgoers getting in the water in the South County, but that the surf community is still wary of Morro Bay after the shark attack.
Recent rainstorms that have flushed dirt and debris into the ocean and created poor visibility in the water aren’t helping matters.
“There was one guy out there surfing this morning,” Jones said. “I was like, man, I don’t know, it just rained again last night.”
To get the beach in Morro Bay, Jones and other visitors had to pass a sign warning people to enter the water at their own risk.
Eric Endersby, Morro Bay Harbor director, told The Tribune on Saturday that the shark warnings would remain in place through Monday.
On Saturday, Endersby told The Tribune that the shark that killed the boogie-boarder was most likely a great white.
After Friday’s deadly attack, the Morro Bay Harbor Patrol shut the beach down while it searched for the shark. The water near Morro Rock reopened on Saturday.
Jones said that surfers were mostly still reluctant to take to the ocean near Morro Rock on Sunday morning. The Surfline camera at Morro Bay Harbor showed a few surfers standing on the beach around 11 a.m. Sunday, but no one was spotted in the water.
Instead, Jones said, the surfers were talking. “Everyone was just standing around, baffled, trying to figure out what happened,” Jones said.
Muddy Ocean Waters Leave Surfers Wary
Jones said that on Sunday, the ocean water was muddy after the rainstorms released rocks and debris. He said that the water was particularly murky the morning of Christmas Eve, when the fatal shark attack occurred.
He said that one of the key safety tips for boarders is to avoid getting into the water after rainstorms, when the water tends to be murkier, making it harder for sharks to see people and for people to see sharks.
Another way to stay safe is to go into the ocean with at least one other person or in larger numbers when the beach is busy.
“I’m not going to paddle out to a beach when there is nobody else out there,” Jones said.
He said that surfing when the beach is bustling and busy also means you have more people that are able to help you in the event of a shark bite.
He told The Tribune about a friend of his who was bit in the leg by a shark, but a medic was able to create a tourniquet and save his leg. A few weeks later, Jones’ buddy was back in the water.
Jones also said he’s heard countless stories about people punching sharks in the eye or nose, the shark releasing the surfer or boogie-boarder, and the boarder being able to get away safely.
While nonlethal shark encounters happen, fatal shark attacks are extremely rare.
In California, there have been only 18 instances of someone dying from a shark attack since the 1800s, according to reporting by The Tribune.
The last fatal shark attack in San Luis Obispo County happened in Avila Beach in 2003 when Debbie Franzman, 50, was swimming with sea lions near the Avila Pier. The shark tore off part of her leg and severed her femoral artery, according to Tribune files.
Franzman was one of Bookout’s clients at Pismo Beach Surf Club and despite that 2003 loss hitting close to home and this weekend’s shark attack, he has no hesitation about getting back into the water.
“It’s not something that you want to worry about, he said. “You’re safer in the water than you are driving down the freeway any day of the week.”
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