Isle of Palms Winter/Spring 2019-20

12 www.IsleOfPalmsMagazine.com | www.ILoveIOP.com | www.IOPmag.com Sharks in the Water “A nd, you know, the thing about a shark … he’s got lifeless eyes. Black eyes. Like a doll’s eyes. When he comes at ya, doesn’t seem to be livin’ … until he bites ya, and those black eyes roll over white, and then … ah, then you hear that terrible, high-pitched screamin.’” — Quint, “Jaws” (1975) A woman visiting the Isle of Palms on Sept. 15 suffered a suspected shark bite to her foot and received 29 stitches. It was a harrowing experience, and, thankfully, it sounds like she is recuperating fine. The movie “Jaws” led a whole generation of people By Colin McCandless to fear the water and what lies lurking beneath the ocean surface, and, whenever a shark attack happens off our coast, it does little to allay those fears here locally. Before you avoid the water completely, you should consider the fact that shark attacks are actually quite rare. Not as rare as a “Sharknado” of course, but still uncommon. Perhaps when we read about shark bites in the news, we suffer from recency bias and assume that every square inch of water is teeming with blood-thirsty human killers. South Carolina ranks third nationally in shark attacks this decade, according to statistics from safewise.com , up Our State Ranks High, But They Are Still Rare