Liz Dunn, 28, suffered minor injuries after being bitten on the left calf while surfing at a spot called Leftovers, about one mile south of Waimea Bay on Oahu, Hawaii, around 11.40am on Thursday 23 March.
Done had caught a wave, which she described as one of the best in her life, a long ride which took her into the channel. The channel was muddy and murky because of run-off from recent heavy rains.
While paddling back out she felt a bump on her board. “I thought it was a rock or a turtle,” she said. Then she felt the bite on her calf.
"The bite was almost not the scariest part - it was seeing the fin," a jagged dorsal fin a foot and a half wide at its base, Dunn told media. "I knew it was a big, serious shark."
Dunn was visiting Hawaii from Vancouver, Canada.
Hawaii’s Star Bulletin quoted National Marine Fisheries Service biologist John Naughton as saying: "People are absolutely crazy to be surfing in these conditions."
"I'm almost surprised it hasn't happened earlier with all the debris and mud in the water.”
The gray shark kept circling her, with the large fin above, then below the water, and Dunn feared the worst.
"It felt like it took a taster bite," she said.
The bite left three puncture wounds near her shin. The largest was 2 1/2 inches wide and went to the bone.
Two local men with whom she was surfing heard her screams and rushed to her aid.
They pulled her to shore on her 7-foot board and later washed her wounds at a private home with soap and water, and wrapped it in paper towels and blue packing tape.
Dunn thinks her wet suit protected her leg and might have prevented a serious bite.
Her boyfriend, Chris Smith, drove her to Kahuku Hospital, where she received a tetanus shot and intravenous antibiotics and her leg was bandaged.
Sources:
Star Bulletin
Sunday, March 26, 2006
Wednesday, March 22, 2006
INJURED - 18 March 2006 - Sigatoka River mouth, Fiji - surfer attacked
Surfer, Paul Chong Sue, 21, was bitten on the arm while padding out to catch a wave at Sigatoka River mouth, Fiji, at about 6pm local time on Saturday 18 March.
Fellow surfer, Ratu Naiqama told the Fiji Times: "The shark came from below his board and bit his right arm,
"It tried to pull him under but Paul fought back and managed to free his arm from the sharks grip."
After he freed his arm from the shark he called to the other surfers. There were around 15 surfers in the water at the time and they came to his aid.
There were about 15 of us out at sea with him. We all surrounded him and started making our way back to the beach,
"After the attack, the shark kept circling the area. Even though we thought that it was going to strike again, we did not pay much attention because we were rushing to get Paul onto the beach," Naiqama said.
An Australian nurse, who was also there to surf, was on the beach at the time and help treat the wound before Chong Sue was taken to Lautoka Hospital.
He was expected to make a full recovery.
Sources
Fiji Times
Fellow surfer, Ratu Naiqama told the Fiji Times: "The shark came from below his board and bit his right arm,
"It tried to pull him under but Paul fought back and managed to free his arm from the sharks grip."
After he freed his arm from the shark he called to the other surfers. There were around 15 surfers in the water at the time and they came to his aid.
There were about 15 of us out at sea with him. We all surrounded him and started making our way back to the beach,
"After the attack, the shark kept circling the area. Even though we thought that it was going to strike again, we did not pay much attention because we were rushing to get Paul onto the beach," Naiqama said.
An Australian nurse, who was also there to surf, was on the beach at the time and help treat the wound before Chong Sue was taken to Lautoka Hospital.
He was expected to make a full recovery.
Sources
Fiji Times
Tuesday, March 07, 2006
INJURED - 27 February 2006 - Big Beach, Maui, Hawaii - swimmer attacked
Nicolette Raleigh, 15, was bitten on the right calf in two foot of water by an eight-foot grey shark. She was standing in the water off Big Beach, Maui, Hawaii on 27 February with her boyfriend Shane Wilds. They were celebrating his 17th birthday. Shane was knocked down by the shark as it came in for the attack and latched on to Nicolette’s leg.
Media report that another friend, Jessy Larson, pulled her to safety and Nicolette was taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center, where surgery was performed to fix a 10-inch long gash on her calf.
"I just started screaming. I was like, 'Get him off me.' Then I kicked him with my foot," Raleigh told reporters.
"Everything got pretty messed up. My muscles are all torn and everything, but I got really lucky, because the only thing that happened was I'm missing part of my nerve."
She said: "We kind of joked about it 15 minutes before [going in the water], like, 'Don't get bitten by a shark!' And we're like, 'Yeah, yeah.' "
"And then, lucky me!"
Sources:
CBS News
Media report that another friend, Jessy Larson, pulled her to safety and Nicolette was taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center, where surgery was performed to fix a 10-inch long gash on her calf.
"I just started screaming. I was like, 'Get him off me.' Then I kicked him with my foot," Raleigh told reporters.
"Everything got pretty messed up. My muscles are all torn and everything, but I got really lucky, because the only thing that happened was I'm missing part of my nerve."
She said: "We kind of joked about it 15 minutes before [going in the water], like, 'Don't get bitten by a shark!' And we're like, 'Yeah, yeah.' "
"And then, lucky me!"
Sources:
CBS News
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