Shark "experts" say you are more likely to be in a fatal car accident, die of heart disease, or be done in by a falling coconut than be killed by a shark. Indeed. But I say I'll take those three over being eaten by ANYTHING any day of the week. At least with those I will be on land when it happens. There is nothing more frightening that I can think of than being face to face with a monster full of sharp teeth while having to hold my breath.....I guess this is what fascinates me about the Great White shark. They are a living prehistoric nightmare. When I see them in pictures I almost can't believe what I am seeing really exists. I also can hardly wait to really see one in their own domain. When I do I can only imagine how I might feel during the experience.....hopefully I am at a safe vantage point when it happens.

Here are some news articles reporting encounters from unsafe vantage points in South Africa......

South Africa Great White Shark Attack Articles

CAPE TOWN, South Africa 2004- An elderly woman was attacked by a shark off a South African beach near Cape Town Monday and was missing and presumed dead, rescue workers said. It was the third shark attack near the tourist hotspot in just over a year and was almost certainly the work of a great white, the ocean's most feared predator which is found in large numbers in the region's waters. National Sea Rescue Institute (NSRI) spokesman Craig Lambinon said a number of people had seen a shark attack a 76-year-old woman shortly after 7 a.m. "The shark came out of the water and attacked, came around and attacked again a second time and then a third time. It was thrashing her body in the water and then swam off with her. "She had been swimming in the same place every day for 17 years," he said. Lambinon said a search helicopter later spotted a 20-foot shark in the area.

Paul Dennett, the vice commodore at the nearby False Bay Yacht Club who witnessed the attack, said: "I saw this huge shark thrashing at something in the water, I thought it was a seal but then saw that it was a lady". "It left her floating in the water, and there were massive amounts of blood. Then it ... came around and its whole mouth came out of the water and it took her down." Dennett said the woman had been swimming about 15 yards off the shoreline at the time of the attack. The search for her body was called off at mid-morning. Surrounding beaches were closed. "All efforts to find the lady have been exhausted by a wide and thorough search, we are hoping that police divers will be successful in their efforts (to find her body)," the NSRI said. Lambinon said it was highly unusual for a shark to repeatedly attack a person, and he suspected that fish released by fishermen in the area may have created a feeding frenzy. A great white killed a surfer in the area in September 2003, while a teen-ager lost his leg in an attack in 2004. The great white has killed many around the world over the years but has suffered greatly at the hands of humans itself. It is targeted by fishermen for its valuable jaws and teeth.

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CAPE TOWN, South Africa (12 Sep 2003) -- A huge great white shark killed a teenage bodyboarder at a popular surf break off Cape Town's Noordhoek beach on Friday, dragging him under the water in its massive jaws and tossing him into the air. A group of surfers and bodyboarders watched in horror as David Bornman, 19, of Newlands was attacked. He was helped to the beach but bled to death within minutes despite receiving cardio-pulmonary resuscitation from a fellow surfer. The shark's teeth bit into his body, causing a massive injury from his back down to his thigh. Shocked surfers Peter Whale and Brent Mills were in the water about 50m offshore at Dunes, a surfing spot near the Kakapo wreck, when they saw the shark strike. Whale said he heard a loud splash even though there were no sets of waves coming through. "I looked across and saw this guy in the shark's mouth. It was the biggest shark I've ever seen in my life. It took him under, then came up and just tossed him and then disappeared." Whale said he shouted "shark!" and they all started paddling in furiously. Mills said he saw Bornman catch a wave towards the shore. "But the water around him turned red. The whole wave was just blood." He paddled out to help the stricken teenager, who told him he couldn't breathe. "I told him he still had his legs but I could tell the bite was bad. You could see into his body." Whale, who is trained as a rescue diver, gave Bornman CPR for half an hour but he was dead within minutes. Mills said that just before the attack Bornman had caught a really good wave. "I turned to him and said 'nice wave'. How can it go from being so much fun to this?" he asked. Skymed flight paramedic Andre Jooste said the shark must have been huge. "I've worked in KwaZulu-Natal and seen a lot of bites but this was the largest and most destructive I've ever seen."  Jooste said Bornman would have lost his entire blood volume within two minutes. "There is no way he could have survived." He said the shark probably mistook Bornman for a seal.

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In April 1971, Theo Klein was swimming beyond the breakers in Buffalo Bay, South Africa, when he was attacked by a White Shark of undetermined length. Klein was disemboweled in the initial strike and collapsed within a few swim strokes. A nearby surfer, who did not witness the attack, took Klein to be a drowning victim. As the surfer paddled over to try to assist, he noted blood in the water and saw a White Shark swim between him and Klein's body. The surfer retreated and, as hundreds of horrified onlookers watched, the shark returned repeatedly and tore pieces from Klein's lifeless body. The total time between the initial attack on Klein and recovery of his badly mutilated body was about 20 minutes. What makes this case particularly interesting is that a White Shark – probably the attacking animal – swam between Klein's body and the would-be rescuer. This behavior strongly suggests competitive exclusion – that the shark was attempting to discourage access to Klein's body, which it may have regarded as a food resource.

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