SAN DIEGO, California — The shark attack that killed David Martin, 66, who died Friday on a triathlon training swim at Solana Beach, 14 miles northwest of San Diego, was the first shark attack in San Diego County in 50 years — but there have been suspected sightings of sharks before.
I know. I’m an avid beach goer.
August 1982: I had just come to San Diego to accept a job as staff writer on the San Diego Union after working overseas and then on the Wichita Eagle-Beacon in Wichita, Kansas. I took my Little Brother in the Big Brother program, Tom, then 10, to Mission Beach.
While we were swimming Tom yelled and insisted something hit against his leg. There was later a report that a hammerhead shark had been sighted near the beach. Was that what brushed against him? Tom had yelled very convincingly that day. And I was convinced the shark had brushed against him.
August 2006: It was a beautiful day at La Jolla Cove and I had taken now-grown-up-Tom’s daughter Kayla, then 10, and his stepson Greg, then 14, to the beach with their friends. The cove was packed with families. Suddenly the body of a big fish not too far away from the main area where families were swimming came out of the water and nose-dived back underneath the surface.
It happened very quickly and I was shocked. Many parents oohed and ahhed saying “Look at the dolphin!” My father had been an avid fisherman and had a boat. I had seen dolphins in Florida and elsewhere. And this did not look like what I had seen. I said to the parents next to me “Are you SURE that was a dolphin? It doesn’t quite look like a dolphin to me.” They insisted it was.
Less than a week later news reports indicated some people believed they had spotted a Great White Shark near Mission Beach, some miles away. I suspected that was what I had seen that day — and my suspicions were confirmed one day when I was on the Internet and saw photos of Great White sharks jumping. The one above is similar to what I saw that day.
People from the East Coast often assume San Diego waters are as warm as Florida’s. In fact, the waters are fairly chilly — which is why this time of year many swimmers use wet suits (which means Great Whites can mistake them for seals). The waters are almost like brisk East Coast spring waters until June and July, when they warm up. If sharks are coming not too far from shore NOW this time of year, what will happen in this summer?
And right now?
The beaches right now are a kind of morbid curiosity spot and a spot more to enjoy the sun then to venture worry free into the waters. The San Diego Union-Tribune’s Steve Schmidt writes:
Clutching cameras, binoculars and fresh flowers, they stood on warm sand and stared into the sea, offering prayers for a man most had never met.
“I said a prayer, and I’m not normally a prayer person,” Dave Allen of Leucadia said.
The curious and the concerned streamed to this tight-knit town yesterday, drawn to the site of the first fatal shark attack in San Diego County waters in nearly 50 years.
At Fletcher Cove Beach Park on a bright spring day, some laid flowers at a makeshift memorial for David Martin, 66, who died on a triathlon training swim near his home Friday morning.
Warnings to stay out of the water through tomorrow morning have been posted from the north end of Torrey Pines State Beach to South Carlsbad State Beach.
Along other stretches of sand, including San Diego’s Mission Beach, people rode bodyboards and bobbed in the water. All beach-goers were aware of Martin’s death, and some said they were reluctant to venture into the ocean.
The AP also notes a bit of reluctance on the part of beach-goers — those who showed up, that is:
Fear and shock turned to wary relief as a golden Southern California beach weekend unspooled with no sign of the great white shark that killed a swimmer in a rare attack near San Diego.
Thousands fled record inland temperatures for the relative cool of the coast, though 17 miles of San Diego County’s coast remain under advisory closure Sunday, patrolled by helicopters and lifeguard trucks keeping an eye on unwitting swimmers.
Only a hardy few paddleboarders on Saturday ignored posted signs warning that the shark could still be lurking below the Pacific’s calm surface.
“It’s like going to see ‘Jaws’ — getting in the water the next day, all you could think about was the music,” said Bob Rief, 63, who was teaching a friend how to stand up on a paddleboard. “But if you’re afraid of the ocean, you shouldn’t be in it.”
The San Diego-area native was worried that the attack would scare away vacationers or weekend beachgoers and hurt businesses. Solana Beach is 14 miles northwest of San Diego.
Beaches were emptier than usual Saturday near where triathlete David Martin was killed Friday. Farther north, Orange and Los Angeles county beaches were packed with people on a bright, hot day. Lifeguards were more concerned with crowds and riptides than sharks.
Rumors of sharks, occasional news reports of possible shark sightings — and what I saw that day two years ago — have been part of life here.
But it has always been said, “Nah. There hasn’t been a shark attack here in some 50 years. The waters are totally safe. Don’t even worry about it!”
No longer.
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Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.