Video: Surfing in the Shark Bite Capital of the World

Dashel Pierson
·2 min read
2

Unofficially, although quite commonly, New Smyrna Beach, Florida has been dubbed with an ominous, unfortunate moniker: "the shark bite capital of the world."

According to the International Shark Attack File, Florida is the world’s leader for shark attacks, racking up 259 non-fatal bites from 2012 to 2021, surpassing even the entire continent of Australia, which came in second place with 143 in that same date range.

New Smyrna Beach, and the surrounding Volusia County, make up for a lot of those documented shark bites. There’s just so many sharks there, like, literally everywhere, as seen in the video below from East Coast surfer, Michael Dunphy.

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Amidst wading in the shallows, and catching waves, Dunphy is completely surrounded by sharks in the clip. Some even approach for a closer look, before darting away.

“Don’t come after me,” he says. “Almost just got bit. Looked around and the shark was right there.”

It’s not the first time we’ve seen footage from Dunphy, showing the crazy shark situation in New Smyrna, either. Previously, he posted a video in which he was absolutely swarmed by sharks as he went to paddle out, commenting on the session:

“Almost left with a few less toes today.”

And, in fact, last year, Dunphy was attacked (or nibbled, rather) by a shark while surfing nearby in Cocoa Beach, FL. After that incident, Dunphy recounted:

“I can officially say that I got bit by a shark right there,” with a tiny trickle of blood on his foot.

“It came up [and] he bit on my foot. Like, he missed it and then he came back and he was stuck in my leash, all tangled up, and then the wave popped up, and I was like, ‘ah, shark!’”

“That was my first official shark attack. It was a shark attack, count it.”

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