Steve Rossell
Shark attacks are a lot more common in Bali than most folks would be aware of but not all "attacks" result in injury or death. Most however do result in the purchase of a new pair of board-shorts.
In fact most "attacks" are simply investigations by these aquatic apex animals and they are a part of a surfers life. Sometimes you are unlucky.
Balian is one surf break that is regularly patrolled by these "men in grey suits" and the location ticks a lot of boxes for sharks.
It has a very large reef area with deep water either side of it which means there are smaller pelagic fish to prey upon.
It is the outlet for a large river that brings all kinds of stuff that small fish like to feed on and larger fish like to feed on them and so on.
This environment is a Bull shark favourite. Picture them as smaller but more aggressive cousins of G'white sharks and are known to work in small packs (think orca).
The reason that bull sharks are so happy in this environment is that they are fresh water tolerant and that is extremely rare amongst shark species and are drawn to this particular river-mouth because of a steady supply of a variety of carcasses thrown in up-river. Dogs, cats, pigs, etc. etc. Depending on the depth of the river bull sharks are known to commonly swim upstream into completely fresh water without any problems, in fact they will quite happily swim upiver for tens of miles, if allowed the space, unlike the vast majority of shark species such as Great Whites, Tiger sharks et al.
When those puppies start hitting fresh water their organs start shutting down, beginning with their biggest organ, their skin.
So.....Balian is not a great place to swim or surf at sunrise or sunset after island wide ceremonies during a heavy rain event, especially by your self.
Please pass this info on to every surfer and newbie surfer that you may know, particularly our Russian surfer friends.
Because it has become just too damn crowded in the surf up there. :)
