The first real heatwave of the summer arrived just in time for Fourth of July weekend, and so did a swarm of bull sharks.
This meant intermittent beach closures across Rockaway, up to four hours long in some areas. Every lifeguard on the beach had the same exact conversation with at least one beachgoer at some point over the weekend.
Patron: “Why is the water closed?” Lifeguard: “There’s a shark.” Patron: “Where is the shark?” Lifeguard: “I don’t know.”
Patron: “When can we go back in?” Lifeguard: “I don’t know.”
Some people had far more questions, like “How big is the shark?” (Probably huge and starving), “Don’t you know there’s always sharks in the water?” (Yep, but believe it or not, the 16-year-old lifeguard you’re harassing is not the person in charge of closing the beach), “So can I swim on the closed beach with no lifeguards and ‘No Swimming’ flags instead?” (I’ll let you figure that one out yourself).
When it comes to closing the beach for sharks, it’s pretty rare that lifeguards have any of the information that beachgoers ask us. Most of the time, all we know is that there’s a shark in the area and the water is closed until further notice. The fire department spots the sharks on their drones, and they give updates to the lifeguard office, who tells supervisors across the beach when and where shark protocol is going into effect. The lifeguards receive a signal to get people out of the water for sharks, and then stand on the shoreline whistling people out of the water and wait for the signal to get back up in the chairs. That’s all we know.
Keeping people out of the water is never a very easy task but keeping them out during a heatwave on a holiday weekend is much worse.
It was so hot that forecasters stopped using words like “humid” and “sunny” and started sounding like they were describing a violent monster, using words like “brutal,” “unbearable,” and “relentless.”
With the water closed, the public found other ways to keep cool over the weekend.
Up by 117 Shack, one man took a baby pool onto the boardwalk, filled it using the shower, and bathed in it there.
On Beach 149th, a sweating patron asked a lifeguard if he knew when the Icee man would be coming by. I think Icee and nutcracker men probably set records in sales over the weekend.
Of course, not everyone listened. As soon as PEP officers walked toward another beach, some swimmers headed right back into the water.
Ironically, while the beach was closed because of sharks, lifeguards on Beach 97th Street still made two rescues in the water.
Hopefully the sharks enjoyed their holiday weekend in Rockaway as much as everyone else… and maybe next year they can pick a different beach.
Photo by Edward Pinkhasik.
