Thread: Diego Garcia fatal shark attack

That's sad to hear. I've been swimming/waterskiing in that lagoon a few times. Really surprised to hear this was on the lagoon side, as I believe there are shark nets protecting the whole lagoon.

I never heard of shark nets in the lagoon. Remember that the lagoon is open to the ocean by a narrow passage and those ships stationed inside the lagoon come in and out of that narrow passage all the time. No shark nets there. Anything can come in there and they do. (Unless things have changed since 1988.) You know, the article didn't specify specifically if it happened on the ocean side or lagoon side, but I'm sure it must have happened inside the lagoon, as the article mentioned it was upstream from mainside Diego Garcia. That visibility is great over there and surprisingly, I've never seen sharks, but I've seen turtles, stingrays, fish, baracuda. I always assumed that it was too shallow for them in the lagoon to their liking and better pickings of fish and sealife outside the lagoon. You know they got Tigers, Bullsharks, Oceanic White Tips, even great whites lurking all around that island. Swimming had always been off limits on the ocean side. The Brits specifically made it clear not to swim on the ocean side. The EXPAT club that was ocean side was my favorite hangout and it was the most beautiful view on the island I thought. But I never swam there. I walked along the beach there but never dipped in. It was kind of rough too. We were always told it was too dangerous, and SHARK INFESTED. Here is a piece of what the article said..........

"The attack occurred about 25 feet from shore in a designated swimming area one mile from the downtown area of the base". (My opinion is this.......) One mile from base is where the launch would drop us off. We would either walk to downtown base area or ride a bus. I jogged to base for two reasons. I was pissed off being there after a while, I would isolate myself from all the assholes that would congregate from all the ships on these launch rides to shore, and would all congregate on the bus and talk alot of smack. More than I could bare after a few months on island. So I suspect that the shark attack may have happened near this launch site area. Across the launch area walking only a small strip of the atoll was the ocean side and there was the EXPAT club. Downtown Diego base area was a mile south. It's the only place it could be. If you go a mile the other way from base, you hit the ocean instantly because downton Diego is the widest part of the atoll and anything passed that going south is ocean. So I think this attack happened between the Brit Club and the launch basin. I think if it had happened on the ocean side of the atoll, they wouldn't be shutting down swimming nor water activities since swimming in the ocean side is strictly prohibited.

Tumon is so much better than Waikiki! It's pretty similar, but not very crowded. Oahu is a beautiful place, but WAY too many people on that damn island at any given moment. I HATE PEOPLE!!

BTW, I cut my leg pretty good on some coral pretty close to Tumon Bay. Luckily not the fire variety