Is that a baby shark? Video shows 11-year-old’s close call with creature in North Myrtle Beach
The Oister family was enjoying their vacation in North Myrtle Beach when an unexpected visitor showed up.
The family, visiting from upstate New York, was enjoying their beach time Sunday near 8th Avenue and Ocean Drive in North Myrtle Beach. Nicole Oister’s 11-year-old daughter Sara played in the water on her boogie board.
“I was taking a video of my daughter on her boogie board, and all of a sudden she started running out of the water,” Nicole Oister said. “I thought maybe she was stung by a jellyfish.”
But she wasn’t stung by a jellyfish. Her daughter had seen a fin, and ran out of the water immediately. Looking back at the video Oister had taken, the family determined it was a small shark, possibly a baby. Oister said she knew the risks of swimming in the ocean, and she was aware that she and her family were in “their territory,” referring to sharks and other aquatic life.
Relieved that no one was hurt, Oister figured it was a fun story to share, and something for her daughter to tell her friends about their vacation to South Carolina.
Sara Oister was a bit wary of getting back in the water after the incident, but she eventually grew more comfortable and has returned to swimming.
“That night she was scared about it,” her mom told The Sun News. “The next day we just kept encouraging her that it doesn’t happen that often ... She’s been going back in the water, just staying close to us and just continuing to be aware of her surroundings.”
Some of the most common types of sharks in South Carolina are the Atlantic sharpnose, the sandbar, the bonnethead, the blacktip, the finetooth, and the scalloped hammerhead, according to the state Department of Natural Resources.
