Most dangerous beaches

[oscar]

New Smyrna Beach, Florida with all its shark attacks. Locally the city is known as the Shark Bite Capital.

32 shark attacks since 2010 there.  Chances still seem slim.

Worse than the Lake Michigan beaches that were listed upthread.   

Hm.  I'd bet cold water kills more than sharks.

At least in Lake Michigan, you can wear a wet suit to deal with the cold water, and not have a shark mistake you for a yummy seal.

[Rothman]

New Smyrna Beach, Florida with all its shark attacks. Locally the city is known as the Shark Bite Capital.

32 shark attacks since 2010 there.  Chances still seem slim.

Worse than the Lake Michigan beaches that were listed upthread.   

Hm.  I'd bet cold water kills more than sharks.

At least in Lake Michigan, you can wear a wet suit to deal with the cold water, and not have a shark mistake you for a yummy seal.

Sure, but people are dying in the Great Lakes.  You don't necessarily die from a shark bite and, when you have only 32 attacks at the worst beach over a time period longer than a decade, it seems to me the cold water and whatever currents in the Great Lakes are the greater danger...let alone we probably don't keep track of people who just come down with a case of hypothermia.

[Flint1979]

Lake Michigan's problem is the amount of people that use the lake so with more people around Lake Michigan there are going to be more drownings but not any shark attacks. I almost refuse to go into the Great Lakes to swim or anything. I've been in 3 of the Great Lakes though (Superior, Michigan and Huron). Superior is cold but the spot I was in wasn't as cold as the rest of the lake. It is a beach called Sand Point Beach which is located at the very northern part of Munising and with Grand Island blocking most of the lake away from the beach the water is a bit warmer than the rest of the lake. The thing to watch out for in Lake Superior is how quickly the water gets deep, in this area there is a 65 foot drop off a little ways out in the water but if you stay close enough to shore it's not a problem. I then took the Pictured Rocks tour which goes out and turns around near Chapel Beach and I was asking the guy on the boat a bunch of questions and he's the one that told me about the drop off at Sand Point Beach.

[kphoger]

I'd bet cold water kills more than sharks.

You'd win that bet.  Cold water also kills humans.

[Rothman]

I'd bet cold water kills more than sharks.

You'd win that bet.  Cold water also kills humans.

Hey-o!

[triplemultiplex]

Superior is cold but the spot I was in wasn't as cold as the rest of the lake. It is a beach called Sand Point Beach which is located at the very northern part of Munising and with Grand Island blocking most of the lake away from the beach the water is a bit warmer than the rest of the lake. The thing to watch out for in Lake Superior is how quickly the water gets deep, in this area there is a 65 foot drop off a little ways out in the water but if you stay close enough to shore it's not a problem. I then took the Pictured Rocks tour which goes out and turns around near Chapel Beach and I was asking the guy on the boat a bunch of questions and he's the one that told me about the drop off at Sand Point Beach.

The drop off thing isn't true everywhere along Lake Superior.  Swim off Minnesota Point in Duluth and you can walk a long, long ways out.  Several bays in Bayfield County stay waist-deep for so long, one gives up on walking out.
Chequamegon Bay is the warmest water in Lake Superior.  It's mostly sheltered from the main lake and is relatively shallow, so it's good for swimming.  Especially on the Ashland side.

Best conditions for swimming in Lake Superior are actually in like September because the lake has had all summer to warm up.  A few days of consistent wind blowing into whatever shore you're on will ensure that warm surface water piles up on your side of the lake.

The wind thing has such a dramatic effect on Lake Michigan.  Because the wind usually blows toward Michigan, the warmest water gets pushed over to that side.  Combined with the pure sand from Grand Traverse Bay south, it's some very fine swimming (assuming not too much filamentous algae has washed up on shore.). Meanwhile, on the Wisconsin side, those prevailing winds generally cause upwelling of colder water from deeper in the lake to replace the warm surface water pushed toward Michigan.  So it could be 90 degrees for a week, but if you got westerly winds, the water will still be absolutely frigid in the dog days of summer.  Just as well since the aforementioned algae is always piling up on our beaches.  Goddamn quagga mussels...

[Flint1979]

Superior is cold but the spot I was in wasn't as cold as the rest of the lake. It is a beach called Sand Point Beach which is located at the very northern part of Munising and with Grand Island blocking most of the lake away from the beach the water is a bit warmer than the rest of the lake. The thing to watch out for in Lake Superior is how quickly the water gets deep, in this area there is a 65 foot drop off a little ways out in the water but if you stay close enough to shore it's not a problem. I then took the Pictured Rocks tour which goes out and turns around near Chapel Beach and I was asking the guy on the boat a bunch of questions and he's the one that told me about the drop off at Sand Point Beach.

The drop off thing isn't true everywhere along Lake Superior.  Swim off Minnesota Point in Duluth and you can walk a long, long ways out.  Several bays in Bayfield County stay waist-deep for so long, one gives up on walking out.
Chequamegon Bay is the warmest water in Lake Superior.  It's mostly sheltered from the main lake and is relatively shallow, so it's good for swimming.  Especially on the Ashland side.

Best conditions for swimming in Lake Superior are actually in like September because the lake has had all summer to warm up.  A few days of consistent wind blowing into whatever shore you're on will ensure that warm surface water piles up on your side of the lake.

The wind thing has such a dramatic effect on Lake Michigan.  Because the wind usually blows toward Michigan, the warmest water gets pushed over to that side.  Combined with the pure sand from Grand Traverse Bay south, it's some very fine swimming (assuming not too much filamentous algae has washed up on shore.). Meanwhile, on the Wisconsin side, those prevailing winds generally cause upwelling of colder water from deeper in the lake to replace the warm surface water pushed toward Michigan.  So it could be 90 degrees for a week, but if you got westerly winds, the water will still be absolutely frigid in the dog days of summer.  Just as well since the aforementioned algae is always piling up on our beaches.  Goddamn quagga mussels...

Superior has deep enough water that you need to watch out for and some of those beaches drop off quickly. Yeah but the deep cold water in Lake Superior stays pretty cold year round. Usually the east side of the lakes has the best beaches.

[Rothman]

Oh, we haven't talked about lampreys latching onto Great Lakes swimmers yet...

[triplemultiplex]

Has that ever happened?

[Rothman]

Has that ever happened?

Yes.

[triplemultiplex]

Gross.

[Flint1979]

The thing with Michigan is that you don't have to go to a Great Lake to go to the beach. We have so many inland lakes that you can take your pick on what one you want to go to pretty much.

[Rothman]

Gross.

Well, also yes.