Tourism Talk
Shark reports aren't taking bite out of Hawai'i tourism

By Michele Kayal
Advertiser Staff Writer

The word "shark" doesn't pack the wallop it used to.

The summer "Jaws" was in the theaters, I wasn't allowed to see it, but I still didn't go near the water. And it was make-believe.

But Leta Kattau and June Moore from Tucson, Ariz., had a different attitude. Sure, they sputtered when they were asked about last week's mano sighting — "Where? Here?" "What kind?" "A big one?" "Do you have sightings a lot?" But they went in the water anyway. Just dove right in.

In fact, none of Waikiki's visitors seemed fazed last week by the three black-tip sharks whose off-shore lounging spurred closure of the world's most famous beach.

Low-flying helicopters, front-page news, ribbing from smarty-pants beach boys ("We tell them they're small, and they wouldn't eat a whole person, just a limb," said beach attendant Mike Bell). None of it had any effect, much to the relief of the Hawai'i Visitors and Convention Bureau, which said it hasn't received a single panicked phone call.

Maybe it's because the East Coast has been getting the really bad press. In Virginia and North Carolina, sharks ate people while their families watched. In Florida, surfers were jumping over sharks as they paddled to the break.

I don't care what anyone says: shark jumping is not normal.

But Honolulu beach boys, visitors and even the mayor insist that last week's sharks were not dangerous, and that sharks don't really bother them, anyway.

"That shark out there is the same shark that's been out there all summer," said Dewey Medeiros, a wrangler for C&K Beach Service. "I grew up on the west side. You surf with baby sharks."

Mayor Harris ("It's alright, ma'am, I'm a marine biologist") was even bolder. He swims with sharks all the time. Gets right up to 'em. Been in the water with a dozen of 'em 20 feet away. (The mayor knows we're talking about the beach and not City Hall, right?) No matter! Land sharks, reef sharks, the mayor can mix it up with the best of them.

And a lot of visitors feel the same way.

"The shark is the most highly developed predator on the planet, and we're in their territory. This is their feeding ground. Probably small fish in the water stimulated their responses," said Jordan Bromwich, a resident of Toronto who had been in Waikiki exactly 11 hours since missing his flight to Sydney.

The self-proclaimed university dropout in pre-optometry admits to watching too much of the Discovery Channel's Aussie crocodile hunter Steve Irwin, which provides most of his ichthyological knowledge.

"Great whites bite those cages because they have pits in their mouths that sense magnetic fields," Bromwich said. "You don't find this in reef or bull sharks, but great whites can sense magnetic fields."

He says sharks are not a problem, as long as you respect their space.

Bromwich, I should mention, was not wet. And he appeared to be wearing shorts, not a bathing suit.

But hands down the most laid-back person on the beach was Casey O'Connell. The recent college graduate and surfing nut moved here two weeks ago for Hawai'i's legendary waves. Did the shark sighting put a crimp in her plans?

"I moved here from Florida," she said. "None of these are as big as the ones they saw there."

Touche.

But just the same, she probably won't write home about Waikiki's toothsome creatures.

"My mom was like 'Oh, you'll be safer there,' " O'Connell said. "So I won't tell her about this."