I took a class with my daughter at the aquarium and they said sharks don't like how we taste.

They also think a missing young surfer girl last week might have been eaten by a shark on Oahu. They just found her board and torn leash.

Vacationbound:
If it's really important to you to be able to wake up and jump in the ocean, you may want to switch to a condo on Napili beach. It will be more expensive than Noelani. I have stayed at Napili Sunset - not fancy at all, but right on a very nice beach. The 1 and 2 bdrms are on the beach, the studios are not. There are several other condos on the beach there, too. At Noelani, though, you can still jump into the pool that is oceanfront for a refreshing dip in the morning. I concur, though, that I would not swim at that tiny cove next door to the Noelani.

I have a condo on Kaanapali Beach and over the years have been on Maui when shark attacks occur. In EVERY instance at least one if not several of the precautions outlined in the State of Hawaii brochures was ignored. Murky water, near a stream, dawn, etc. Nevertheless it still is a tragedy. I would not alter my accomodations on Maui but I would follow the guidelines. Aloha.

JeffKaanapali, can you rpovide the full guideleines or advise where they may be found. Thnaks.

http://www.hawaii.rr.com/leisure/rev...12_sattack.htm

or
http://www.sailhawaii.com/sharks.htm

Rusty Do a google search on Hawaii shark task force and it will give you the list of ten precautions.

Thanks so much for all of the great tips and information. Also, for that great web cam on Napili Bay. I've decided to make the tough decision of switching places to stay. The Noelani looks so wonderful and the people there were just great on the phone. After all the great things I've heard about it I'd recommend it to anyone who doesn't need a swimming beach outside their front door. I'm not one of those people though so I will be staying at Napili Bay. Thanks again everyone!

Do sharks have "taste". I know they they have sophisticated senses, but wouldn't a mammal be a mammal?
Buuurrrpp.

Reply to logandog,
Agree that "sharks don't attack people because they don't like how people taste" proposition is a little hard to swallow.

If only a few people (~100) are attacked/year and there are zillions of sharks, how do the ones that don't bite us know humans don't taste good:?
Or did they find out on the Fodor's shark forum:o) thread((?))

For what it's worth, the 3 popular Kama'ole beach parks were closed today due to a shark sighting.

The beaches were closed just for a short while, and they reopened at 11am. A shark may or may not have been sighted near Cove Park, according to the lifeguard at Kam III.

I noticed Waldens had a book about survival stories in Hawaii. Sounds like a good read for cautious people. Forgetting the name... Hidden Perils or something.....

Here's the book-

Perils of Paradise
Author: Rita Beamish Product Code: 1689 ISBN: 1-57306-168-9
Publisher: Bess Press
Availability: In stock.
Price: $11.95

Perils of Paradise is a collection of stories about people who have encountered nature's fury and survived. Whether by skill, luck or just plain grit, they cheated nature and the powerful forces that might have defeated them. Interviews with survivors and their rescuers reveal the skills and determination of people who fought nature and won.

Wow, I'll have to order that book. 2 other Hawaii books I'd recommend are
"Eddie would go" by Stuart Holmes Coleman. Excellent read about a famous Hawaiian surfer. The other book is "Shark Bites", can't remember who wrote it but it's mainly about attacks that have ocurred in Hawaii. I liked this book because its focus wasn't so much on the gore of the attack but rather how the survivors <and they all survived> coped with the aftermath of the attack.

There was an attack by a suspected tiger shark last year at Cove Park (just north of Kam I in Kihei). As I recall, the swimmer was 100 yards offshore in murky water. The authors of Maui Revealed attribute the murkiness to a discharge ditch running through Kalama Park. Still, the chance of being attacked is infinitesimal. And, further south, the water is typically sparklingly clear.