Question:
I’m coming to Hawaii soon. My family spends summers on our family’s lake house and I love the water but have not spent much time in the ocean. I’m curious about sharks. Will I see them when I snorkel on Kauai? Should I worry about shark attacks?
Answer:
It is not likely that you will see sharks when you are snorkeling but it is a possibility. We have 40 species of sharks in the ocean surrounding our islands (there are 350 known species of sharks in the world). Most of them are harmless and will go the opposite direction from you when they sense you in the water. There has never been an incident in Hawaii where a shark attacked a group of snorkelers on a commercial boat. Most of the attacks happen in murky water after there has been rains or when fisherman have bait or dead fish in the water.