Oak Island visitors on high alert after shark attacks

OAK ISLAND, NC (WWAY) — Sunday’s shark attacks at Oak Island have a lot of visitors being extra cautious and with a heightened sense of what lurks in the surf.

Disbelief, shock, are some of the words that can describe how people are reacting to the attacks.

“You don’t think it’s going to happen, but then we actually hear it did happen. It’s just total devastation,” Beverly Garrett, a mother of teenagers, said.

Garrett says she isn’t taking any chances a day after the shark attacks.

“I pretty much told my kids not above their knees,” Garrett said of how far they were allowed in the water Monday.

While some are monitoring conditions in the water, others are just staying out altogether.

“We have some little ones out here on the beach,” visitor Tina Wilson said. “We are enjoying the sand, but you won’t see hardly anyone off shore today. We are all playing it pretty safe.”

Beach visitor Jeff Quick echoed the same sentiment.

“Especially with my daughter, we don’t know how far to take her out,” Quick said.

Safety is one of the main concerns following the attacks not just for citizens but county and town officials, but Oak Island Fire Chief Chris Anselmo says the water is safe.

“Would I swim in the water? I would swim in the water today,” Anselmo told reporters at a morning news conference.

Besides being more cautious near the ocean Garrett has taken away another lesson these attacks.

“I still love the beach, but I guess I have a bigger respect for it than originally I had even thought,” she said.

Oak Island Town Manager Tim Holloman says they can’t close the beach, but people can do a few things to be safe in the water, like avoid swimming near fishing boats, in dirty or murky water and always swimming with a buddy.