5.New Smyrna Beach, Florida, USA
Species: Blacktip shark and Spinner shark
What do you get when you mix lovely sub-tropical weather with gorgeous white-sand beaches in a charming central-coastal Florida town that offers everything from shopping to outdoor sports and recreation to history and nightlife? Correct: lots of tourists. And what do you get when you mix tourists with sharks—some of which, young blacktips and spinners in particular, can’t always tell the difference between a human and a fish? Correct again: “Shark attack capital of the world.” A dubious honor.
6.KwaZulu Natal, South Africa
Species: Great White shark and Bull shark
Swimming at Umhlanga Rocks—a popular beach resort on the KwaZulu Natal coast just north of famously sharky Durban, South Africa—is perfectly safe. All the guides will tell you so. The guides might or might not mention why: nets. Umhlanga Rocks was one of the first shark-infested spots to benefit from protective nets in the 1960s, and to this day serious attacks have been dramatically reduced. However, recent reports, including a National Geographic story, reveal that the Natal Sharks Board (the organization that oversees the nets) is rethinking its policy. The underwater barriers do keep out great whites, bulls, and tiger sharks—but they are indiscriminate, killing a number of harmless creatures, too, including dolphins, rays and turtles.