Shark bites man in Naples, Florida

It's not officially summer beach season yet, but we've already had a shark bite on the southwest Florida coast. Newspaper headlines say an older man staying at the Edgewater Beach Resort in Naples was bitten on the thigh while swimming "about 100 yards" off the beach.

Most people aren't very good at estimating distances, but I'll tell you, 100 yards is a really long way out. And the water was murky.

According to the article, the man felt something bump his leg, but he couldn't see anything because the water was so murky. He swam to shore and noticed a semi-circular bite mark on his thigh. He walked up the beach to get help and was taken to the hospital. One article said he had a serious bite wound, another article said it was a non life-threatening injury.

It was also noted that since 1882 there have only been 8 shark bites recorded in Collier County.

So what's the moral of this story? It's the one you don't see that gets you. Just kidding...my advice has always been to swim near shore in clear water. Obviously the shark in this case let go as soon as it realized it didn't have a fish in its jaws. Being far out from shore in murky water is just a bit too chancy for me.