Sharks Beach

It is 2016. This year one of the biggest surf events will be held on an island most of you never even have heard of! Yuliya Islands are these remote beautiful island chains hiding in between Africa and Australia. The islands very similar to Reunion, with there beautiful mountains opening up into white sandy beaches with beautiful translucent blue waters. It's a sight to behold. The rain forest just outside the mountain edges hold snakes found only on these islands. The local community has been here since I like the mid 1800s. And although life began at the sea for them, most of them have fled the coast moving further inland making homes and villages on the outskirts of jungles on near bases of mountains. I'm here because of this local boy wonder surfer. He has been making a really big splash. Since someone leaked a video of him on the internet 2 years ago. He has become a sensation! And at only 17 this local hot throb has put surfing on the map like never before. He has also brought alot of attention to his home, The beautiful Yuliya Islands! I knew the islands were gonna be beautiful but nothing could get me ready for what my eyes seen when I first set foot on this beautiful amazing place. To get a better feel for Yuta the surfer I flew all the way across the world to see, I thought before meeting him maybe I should meet his family and get to know a little about these islands from the people who have been here. The older generation. So I go to meet with some of the older locals working my way up to his parents. To my surprise talking the these older guys isn't what at all what I thought it would be. Even though Yuta is bringing alot of fame, which means money to the islands, not just Yuta but the entire surfing community. The older generation doesn't approve of the kids being in the water. They say you should only go into the water if you need too. They say the water is dangerous and very bad that's why they moved away from the water. One of them told me that we they first got here they would get dropped from a bigger ship, now mind you this is way back 1800s first settlers. Anyways they got dropped from bigger ships still a ways way from shore. So they would have to swim to reach the islands. Sharks would pick off some of the settlers as they made there way to the islands. It's no Bs these are facts and they have a picture in the island's museum a muse of the sharks devouring people as they swim to shore. It's a huge graphic painting you can't miss it and underneath it is a 15 names and 5 retellings of victim's and witnesses of the attacks. I read the first one. It was a man he was attacked by a enormous shark that took his leg and arm in first bite. This guy made it back to shore some how. Told his story and then bled out and died. Crazy right! They believe he described a Tiger Shark. Those guys can be bad. So yeah these guys don't approve of there kids or anyone else for that matter doing anything in the water. How crazy is that this island would go poor if not for all the attractions the water brings! I keep talking to more of the guys it all seems like folklore. That is until I talk to this older woman. She didn't want to talk and had her son a kid about 16 with her. He also looked sad. I said something outloud to the guys about shark's not being monster's, that's when this lady asked me with tears in her eyes. Then why did they take my son and daughter? Oh god. I'm so very sorry I had no idea you lost someone I immediately respond. She quickly corrects me not some one some ones. I tried to calm her down and talk to her. But she left crying. I sat back down and apologized to the men. One of them started to tell me the story. Shark attacks are extremely rare fatal ones are even more rare. Yet in some bizarre twist of fate in a 3 day span this woman lost a 15 yr old son and a 13 yr old daughter. This is what I was told.. The daughter Mindi was, despite her mother's wishes a young and up coming surfer. She was dominating her divisions and was in the top 400 in the world. This year with all the big events coming to her islands she has been hitting the waves like never before. She goes to her favorite local beach. Lovers bend named after its big waves. It's a beautiful beach a bay just out there kinda like second beach in Africa but with beautiful blue waters and white sandy beaches. The waves are ferocious when next to the cliffs and rock but unlike Second beach. The beach here opens up and stretches a good ways to more tranquil waters. A tourist hot spot hence the name Lovers Bend. It's a neat way to describe this one of a kind beach that as you get closer the to other end the waves once again grow in size. The waters around here pull in surfers of all classes. Hang next to the cliffs and catch waves meant for pros. Or make your way towards the beach to calmer less demanding waves. This day Mindi would choose a spot in between those areas. This area was her and all her friends and fellow surfers go to spot. Nice large patch of sandy beach. Water you could tread in about waste deep for a good ways before running into deep water. The waters are mild enough for good waves yet calm enough to casually just hang out on your board or float around. She and her brothers have come there all there lives. And though there has been several shark attacks including a few fatal I think. The waters here are claimed to be safe. He tells me the girls had been there since around 2 they had been surfing and swimming a good few hours. Some of the girls went back in. It's now around 430 or 5, so they are gonna grab a quick bite then get back out into the ocean for one more dip. Mindi decides she isn't hungry so she takes her surfboard and goes back out. One of her friends sees Mindi sitting on her board. She looks behind her and sees this enormous dark figure in the wave behind Mindi. The girl stands up to get a better look. but as she does a wave roll right into her view. She can no longer see Mindi. But she alerts her friends because she can swear she just heard a scream. The girls look out to sea and see nothing but an empty board and 3 other surfers heading towards the empty board. The girls quickly grab there boards and start running to the water yelling out for there friend. That's when the guy stops and tells me his son was one of the surfers. His son told him that when he first made his way to where Mindi was she was floating face down in the water. The water was stained so red he said. He said he will never forget how quite it was and how motionless Mindi and the sea was. Until out of nowhere she lifted up out of the water her lifeless face now even with his and then disappeared forever. Next thing you he knows something hits his board. It's the tail of a monster. A giant tiger shark surfaces right where Mindi was once floating. It thrashes around and then closes its enormous jaws before sinking back into the blue sea. He yells at the top of his lungs. Sh Sha shark holy f**k it's it's a really big f*****g shark get out of the water. It's a f*****g monster it ate Her! Those girls didn't go back into the water and hasn't since. What. I stopped him. Hasn't since? You make it sound like this is recent. The guy grabs my arm. Man that was just 2 weeks ago. Don't you tourist even read. All of a sudden the young boy that was with the mom of the victims came back. He grabbed me and told me to come with him. He said he had something very important to tell me and though only 12 years old he had this look of intensity just burning.