CAYO was tagged in Mahone Bay, Nova Scotia — a well-established white shark nursery area in the Western North Atlantic. Juvenile white sharks like CAYO regularly migrate south along the US Atlantic coast in a well-documented seasonal pattern.
OCEARCH's satellite tags ping when a shark's dorsal fin breaks the surface. Each ping tells scientists the shark's broad ocean location — but it's not a pinpoint GPS coordinate. As OCEARCH themselves note: "satellite pings do not provide exact 'surf zone' level precision — they help paint the broader picture of how sharks move through our oceans."
In other words, a ping "near Miami Beach" means CAYO was in that general area of the Atlantic — it doesn't mean she was inside the surf zone, near the shore, or at a specific beach.
White shark encounters at Florida beaches are extraordinarily rare. Florida does see more shark bites than any other US state, but the vast majority involve smaller species (blacktip, spinner, bull sharks) in shallow nearshore water — not open-ocean white sharks like CAYO.
Standard ocean safety tips that apply regardless of CAYO:
— Stay out of the water at dawn, dusk, and night when sharks are most active.
— Avoid swimming near fishing piers or areas where people are actively fishing.
— Don't wear shiny jewelry in the water (can resemble fish scales).
— Stay out of the water if you're bleeding.
— Swim in groups — sharks are more likely to approach lone swimmers.
OCEARCH's Global Shark Tracker program is one of the most important marine conservation projects in the world. By tracking white sharks like CAYO across their full migration range, scientists gain critical data on:
— Seasonal migration routes and timing
— Preferred habitat zones and depth ranges
— Population health and breeding patterns
— The role apex predators play in ocean ecosystem balance
Healthy shark populations are a sign of a healthy ocean. The fact that juvenile white sharks are using Florida's Atlantic coast as a migratory corridor is a positive indicator for the Western North Atlantic white shark population, which has been recovering after decades of decline.
Want to know what the water is actually like at Florida's Atlantic coast beaches today — surf height, sargassum, clarity, and water temp? Check our live daily reports:
Sargassum levels, surf, water clarity and more — updated every morning across 100+ destinations.
Check Beach Conditions →No specific threat has been issued. OCEARCH pings show ocean-level location data, not surf zone proximity. CAYO is a tagged, monitored animal being studied by scientists. Always follow posted beach flag conditions.
Track CAYO's exact latest ping in real time at ocearch.org/tracker. As of May 22, 2026, she was last pinged near Miami Beach and moving north along Florida's Atlantic coast.
White sharks like CAYO follow the Gulf Stream north in spring and summer, feeding in the cold waters off Nova Scotia and Cape Cod, then return south in fall and winter. CAYO will likely pass through Florida's waters again in late 2026.
You can view CAYO's full ping history on the OCEARCH tracker, which shows every surface ping since she was tagged in Nova Scotia. Many tagged white sharks follow similar routes through this corridor year after year.