NEW SMYRNA BEACH -- With a third shark-bite attack reported this weekend in the surf off the South Jetty, the Volusia Beach Patrol has a plausible increase for the flurry of activity: warmer waters.
"Last weekend, the water temperature was between 67 and 68, but this weekend it was 73 to 74 degrees," said Beach Patrol Capt. Scott Petersohn, the agency's spokesman.
Not only does the warmer weather mean more active bait fish, which create a feeding frenzy for the 5- and 6-foot sharks that feed on them, but also more humans enjoying the surf.
How else to explain three bites in the span of two days? At least that's how Petersohn sees it.
"It's really unusual to have that many bites so close together," he said.
You likely won't get an argument from 31-year-old Orlando surfer Nolan Provido, who was sitting on his board about 100 yards out when he was bitten 9:30 a.m. Sunday when he was bitten on the left leg and foot. Provido had to pull his leg from the shark's mouth, according to a Beach Patrol report.
Provido was the third bite victim of the weekend and fifth overall so far this year. The weekend attacks occurred in the South Jetty waters near the 2700 block of what is called North Ocean Beach, an extension of A1A, that surfers have named "the Point."
On Saturday, two surfers in the same stretch of waters were bitten by sharks within 10 minutes of each other -- first, 55-year-old David Bryant of Sanford, who was bitten on the right hand, and second, Bryan Heath, 49, of New Smyrna Beach, who was bitten on his right foot.
Bryant underwent surgery at Bert Fish Medical Center to close several deep cuts. The Sanford man got a couple of stitches.