{"id":44887,"date":"2025-07-07T02:38:09","date_gmt":"2025-07-07T02:38:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/44887\/"},"modified":"2025-07-07T02:38:09","modified_gmt":"2025-07-07T02:38:09","slug":"we-surf-with-the-sharks","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/44887\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We surf with the sharks’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Rockaway Beach regulars are taking the latest Big Apple shark warnings in stride.<\/p>\n

Sand and surf lovers at the popular Queens beach refused to let NYPD alerts take a bite out of their holiday weekend after drones spotted menacing sharks<\/a> precariously close to swimmers on Friday \u2014 even though lifeguards shut it down again after a new sighting on Sunday.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe lifeguard will come over and yell, \u2018Shark, shark!\u2019 surfer Offer Miala told The Post Sunday. \u201cMost of the people come out of the water, the inexperienced surfers, the novices, they come out of the water.<\/p>\n

Shark sightings along Rockaway Beach over the holiday weekend put the kibosh on swimming at the popular spot. Kevin C Downs forThe New York Post<\/p>\n

Despite shark warnings, Rockaway Beach regulars couldn\u2019t stay out of the surf on Sunday to stave off the heat. Michael Nagle<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s great of us. We stay in the water. It\u2019s great for us because there\u2019s usually a line of 50 people waiting to catch the next wave,\u201d the \u201c50-ish\u201d Miala said. \u201cWe surf with the sharks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Beach lovers flocked to the shore Sunday, one day after NYPD drones spotted the seaborne predators \u201cvery close\u201d to folks splashing in the waters near Beach 113 to Beach 115 \u2014 coming within 100 feet.<\/p>\n

On Friday, the popular beach was temporarily shut down<\/a> to swimmers after similar sightings.<\/p>\n

The new Sunday alert came around 2:30 p.m. after another shark was spotted.<\/p>\n

One regular said the drones\u2019 \u201crobotic\u201d voice typically fails to impress beachgoers, and it typically takes a lifeguard to get them out of the water \u2014 when one is around.<\/p>\n

NYPD drones have continued to scour the beach from above after a series of shark sightings over the holiday weekend. Michael Nagle<\/p>\n

Local MacGregor Rucker said beachgoers typically ignore the \u201crobotic\u201d warnings from NYPD drones above the beach. Michael Nagle<\/p>\n

\u201cThis stretch where they saw the shark yesterday is kind of like a lifeguard desert,\u201d 41-year-old Beach 113 resident Connor Bickford said while walking his dog. \u201cThere is no lifeguard between 109 and 116. The guys who fly the drones, they sit right there on Beach 109th Street. But there\u2019s no lifeguards here.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople usually don\u2019t listen to the drones,\u201d he added. \u201cThey sound funny, like a broken robot. People usually don\u2019t listen.\u201d <\/p>\n

For some, even the lifeguards don\u2019t do it, with some still taking it with a grain of salt.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just started chuckling,\u201d Prospect Park resident MacGregor Rucker said. \u201cI thought it was kind of a riot.<\/p>\n

Surfer Offer Miala said the Rockaway Beach shark warnings clear \u201cnovice\u201d enthusiasts out of the water. Michael Nagle<\/p>\n

After two days of shark sightings on the 50th anniversary of Jaws, Queens beach lovers braved the waters. Michael Nagle<\/p>\n

\u201cI was thinking of the 50th anniversary of Jaws and I just chuckled,\u201d Rucker, 63, added. \u201cIt happens sometimes around 11 or noon, right around this time. Nobody screamed. There was no panic. There was just like an honest compliance, like people just got out of the water.<\/p>\n

\u201cToday? I\u2019m going in. It\u2019s too hot out here. I\u2019ll take my chances with the sharks.\u201d<\/p>\n

Some area residents even rave about the occasional close encounters with sea critters.<\/p>\n

\u201cLast year they counted 266 whales here. It\u2019s amazing,\u201d said Willy Rodriguez, 70, who lives near Beach 113. \u201cI saw a pod of dolphins right here, off the jetty this summer. IT\u2019s beautiful. We\u2019ve got seals right there too, and that\u2019s why the sharks are here.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a beautiful thing,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Rockaway Beach regulars are taking the latest Big Apple shark warnings in stride. Sand and surf lovers at…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":44888,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[5122],"tags":[5229,10202,5248,405,403,5226,5225,5228,5227,4413,33506,22230,2415,67,586,132,5230,68,1154,2969],"class_list":{"0":"post-44887","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york","8":"tag-america","9":"tag-fourth-of-july","10":"tag-metro","11":"tag-new-york","12":"tag-new-york-city","13":"tag-newyork","14":"tag-newyorkcity","15":"tag-ny","16":"tag-nyc","17":"tag-queens","18":"tag-rockaway-beach","19":"tag-shark-attack","20":"tag-sharks","21":"tag-united-states","22":"tag-united-states-of-america","23":"tag-unitedstates","24":"tag-unitedstatesofamerica","25":"tag-us","26":"tag-us-news","27":"tag-usa"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@us\/114809635135502990","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44887","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=44887"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/44887\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/44888"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=44887"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=44887"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=44887"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}