what is the real score about shark attack and surfers? i have never seen a shark in LU, and i was pretty much unafraid becoz of that. the other night i was watching a documentary and they mentioned that most attacks are in florida and california comes in second. and surfers are usually the victims. is it true? anybody have any shark sightings? makes me want to stay out of the water... anybody from florida or cali wants to comment about sharks?

Mitch, you'll probably have more chances of getting rob and killed in Manila than eaten by a shark.

  Hey,Mitch
 if onli you knew the guys from the kubo(san juan,la union) the likes of enteng,angel,palito,kaw-kaw,poks,marie,jong-jong,etc!!you will forget the meaning of fear!!!shark is serve daily!!!aling norms,whats up!!all you guys nga pala if youre in san juan try passing by osang's store,cool place and nice people!!!
 AWAN SERBI TI KWARTAM,NU AWAN KADWAM!!

sad but true..sharks are  more prey than predators..especially in the BIcol area where i grew up..they serve "kinunot"on a daily basis..and they even do dolphins and sting rays..no wonder theres no shark attacks..

by avoiding shark attacks?you should'nt pee on the water coz the sharks may sense it from miles away, try this http://www.sharkcamo.com/

I did a cage dive with great whites in SA. On the boat they explained that the sharks sometimes mistake surfers for turtles and divers for seals. They can smell a drop of blood in a million parts of water. So if you have a cut anywhere... stay away. They said sharks don't really like eating people. If they did there wouldn't be such a thing as a shark attack survivor. However a bite is still a bite. Luckily, in the Philippines, we don't really have to worry about big blood-thirsty sharks.  Hope it helps

Fear of sharks is rational but the reality is there are fewer and fewer large sharks around to be worried about. In the the Philippines shark populations have collapsed from overfishing, driftnets, and lack of availible food sources.  There are some deep water species which cling to survival but its extremely rare to spot a dangerous catagory shark on the surface around any populated areas of the Philippines.  

I've spent thousands of hours diving, fishing, and cruising remote surf areas of the Philippines and I have never seen a dangerous shark or saltwater crocodile.  Small reef sharks and the thresher sharks of Malapascua are not dangerous in my opinion.

Some areas of Palawan, extreme Northern Luzon and reserves like Tubataha reef may still contian small populations of sharks listed as dangerous.

The 'sharkiest' waters I've ever surfed were in the remote atols of Micronesia. There are literally hundreds of 4-6' reef sharks swimming in close proximity while you are sitting and waiting for waves.  We got used to seeing them come in within petting distance to check you out. Often you could see their profiles in breaking waves as you paddled to take off.  We felt very relaxed around them and gave them as much thought as you would street dogs cruising an open air market for scraps.

We also regularly spotted giant turtles, rays, and big fish in the crystall waters.  A healthy tropical marine ecosystem defintely adds to the joy of surfing.  I'm sure long ago the Philippines was once like that.  

thanks for the info..but i still cant get rid of the fear of seeing the fin in the water although the closest i have been is via discovery channel i use to surf in la union and ive never had any concern at all except when i moved to the US and started looking up surf spots and most of them was in the top 10 in frequency of shark attacks. i guess that really shows how bad the oceans are becoming in the PI right?

i dunno much about shark attacks in the philippines, but there has been a case of death shark attack in cali the past couple of weeks. Kinda freaky cuz i guess it hasnt happened in 4 years. The woman was swimming and got attacked and killed.
Surfers are sometimes victims of shark bites because they are definitly mistaken for being seals. So if u see seals around, watch out cuz there could be a shark lurking around the corner.