Caution: Shark spotting closes Coligny Beach water

A shark spotting closed parts of Coligny Beach for about an hour Thursday afternoon.

The shark was spotted at about 1 p.m. Thursday, according to Mike Wagner, operations manager for Hilton Head Island Shore Beach Services.

About 30 minutes later sections of the beach began allowing swimmers back into the water.

“It’s a routine procedure,” Wagner said.

The procedure requires lifeguards to call people out of the water until 30 minutes after the last time a shark was seen, according to Wagner.

Wagner said that during the summer months small sections of the beach are closed multiple times a week — if not daily — due to shark spottings.

Last month, a teenager from Ohio said she was bitten by a shark while on a boogie board on a Hilton Head Island beach during her first day of vacation.