Guess it's not always better in the Bahamas

The Bahamas has been in the bad news lately, with the late January travel advisory issued by the State Department, based on the heightened crime there. 

Not mentioned in the advisory - which was centered on 18 murders in the Bahamas during January alone -  is the Boston woman who was killed in a shark attack while paddleboarding on her Bahamas honeymoon in early December. 

And not mentioned in the advisory was a recent incident that occurred at the Atlantis Paradise Resort, when a little boy participating in the "Walking with the Sharks" adventure ended up bitten by a shark. And to compound the horror. once there was blood in the water, the 10-year old was circled by sharks. Fortunately, the kid showed tremendous presence of mind in kicking his way to the surface, and his father showed tremendous courage by jumping into the tank to rescue his son. (Go, Dad!) The little boy needed surgery but on last report, was doing okay. 

The "Walking with the Sharks" excursion costs $110 for 30 minutes of "fun," during which folks 10 years old and up can hang with some sharks. 

Now, we're talking reef sharks here, not Jaws-style great whites. 

Still, reef sharks are big enough - 8-9 feet - and they are wild animals. 

Witnesses told TMZ the boy climbed into the tank with the staff and that two of the reef sharks were aggressively swimming around the boy when one of them darted through his legs, causing the child to lose his footing and straddle the shark.

The shark then turned around toward the boy and bit into his right leg, which began profusely bleeding in the tank.

As the boy frantically swam to the surface with his injured leg, the sharks continued to swim back and forth around him. (Source: Independent UK)

Although I live on the ocean, I don't spend a lot of time in it. Even when my sister Kath still had her house in Wellfleet on Cape Cod, where I was a frequent guest, I might step toe in the water once a year. If that. And it was generally on the bay side, rather than the open ocean side of Wellfleet. 

Step toe in, by the way, was pretty much all I ever did. Splash in. Get wet. Let a wave roll over me. Maybe do a bit of a back and forth paddle not far from shore. 

But actual serious swimming? Nah! I'm not that strong a swimmer to begin with, let alone getting in the open ocean where there are rip tides and great whites. And there are great whites marauding around Cape Cod - not just on the Outer Cape (ocean side) but in Cape Cod Bay as well. And sometimes they do kill people. (In 2018, a man was killed by a shark on Newcomb Hollow Beach in Wellfleet, where I've been a number of times.)

Given that I'm not ofen in the coean, I don't spend a ton of time worrying about shark attacks. But just about the last fun excursion I'd go on in the Bahamas - where I'm not apt to go to begin with - would be swimming around in a shark tank. And even more lastier than last would be letting my kid jump into a shark tank. Not that I'm blaming the parents here. I'm sure the adventure was advertised as harmless, harmless, harmless, safe, safe, safe. 

After all, people swim with manatees. They swim with dolphins. Why not a bit of a frolic with the Bambis of the shark world.

Hope the kid make a full recovery. And that however many waivers of liability the family signed before letting their kiddo walk with sharks, they're going to get a good-sized settlement here. 

Bottom line is that, despite the old advertising campaign, thinkgs aren't always better in the Bahamas.