A 10-foot shark was spotted off Waikiki Beach on Monday, the third day in a row that Hawaii water safety officials had to spring into action to warn beachgoers of potential danger in the water.
Monday’s shark sighting, the second in three days along the Waikiki shore, occurred at 1:40 p.m. in the channel near Kaisers surf spot in front of the Hilton Hawaiian Village.
While the beach was not closed, lifeguards did post signs and warned people on the shore and by jet ski, said Shayne Enright, Honolulu Ocean Safety Division spokeswoman. The Hilton Hawaiian Village and Hale Koa hotels were also notified, she said.
On Sunday, state officials on Maui closed Keawakapu Beach in Kihei after a shark was spotted off the Mana Kai Maui Resort at about 1 p.m.
Officials said some stand-up paddleboarders were a quarter-mile offshore when they encountered the shark. Afterward the boarders reported what they described as aggressive behavior in which at least one of the boarders was bumped and fell into the ocean.
No one was hurt, and two Ocean Safety jet skis patrolled the water before the beach was reopened at about 3 p.m.
On Saturday a 10-foot tiger shark was spotted about 200 yards off of the wind sock at Kaimana Beach at 11:15 a.m. Warning signs were posted on the beach, on the Diamond Head side of Waikiki, and beachgoers were warned to say out of the water. The nearby Outrigger Canoe Club and the Elks Lodge were notified as well.
WAS MONDAY’S 10-footer off Waikiki the same as Saturday’s similarly sized shark?
Impossible to say, said University of Hawaii shark researcher Carl Meyer, one of the lead scientists in a two-year, $186,000 study to track shark movements and behavior.
"When we start tagging tiger sharks off Waikiki in coming months, then we will be able to tell you whether a tagged shark is returning to the same location and hanging out there," he said Monday. "But with sightings like this there is no way of determining whether it is the same shark or a different one of similar size."
Meyer, a scientist with UH’s Hawaii Institute of Marine Biology, said tiger sharks routinely swim into shallow water across the Hawaiian Islands, but they mostly come and go without being noticed.
"When someone sees a shark, it’s usually just the tip of the iceberg," he said.
There were 14 shark attacks in Hawaii last year, four more than last year’s unprecedented total of 10. Historically, Hawaii has averaged between two and four shark attacks per year for decades.
