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Sep 2, 2008 3:01 pm US/Pacific
Stinson Beach Reopens After Shark Sightings
STINSON BEACH (BCN) ―
Stinson Beach reopened to swimmers and surfers Tuesday morning, following two shark sightings that limited access to the water for more than a week, a lifeguard supervisor said.
The first sighting occurred Aug. 24 when a surfer and former lifeguard spotted what is believed to be a great white shark about 125 yards offshore, north of the beach's main lifeguard tower.
Officials posted warning signs and prohibited swimming and surfing. Visitors were still allowed to go into water up to their knees.
The beach was set to reopen Friday, but a local fisherman and his wife reported seeing a shiny gray object about 300 feet off the north lifeguard tower around 6:45 p.m. Thursday.
The couple could not gauge the size of the creature, but their sighting prompted authorities to keep water restrictions in place through Tuesday morning.
Scott Palmer, a lifeguard supervisor at Stinson, said that despite the restrictions, the beach was busy with people picnicking and hanging out over Labor Day weekend, and that the parking lot filled up Monday.
As of Tuesday morning, only a few people were in the water at the beach.
"A couple people are out boogie boarding, but low visitation so far," Palmer said.
He said there was a shark sighting two miles north of Stinson Beach on Monday and that warning signs are up in the area. That sighting,
believed to have been a thresher shark, did not prompt an extension of
restrictions at Stinson Beach.
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