Surfer Moses Felipe’s legs and humor remain intact, though a shark came within an inch or so from his ankle when it chomped down on the tail of his board on Sunday.
"If I tilted my ankle, I probably would have touched the head," he said. "I’m just thankful I’m here to tell the story."
The 58-year-old Pearl City man said the humor is a facade, and admitted to his wife he cried in private.
"When you’re alone, that’s when it hits," he said. "I’m still psychologically scared because of the fear of what could have happened."
Felipe rode his motorcycle Tuesday halfway around the island to relieve the stress, but the sight of water still sends a chill through him.
State and federal officials shut down the beach after the attack around noon Sunday. A second, unconfirmed sighting was reported at 2:40 p.m. Sunday. Federal lifeguards reopened the beach Monday morning.
The retired Hawaii Air National Guardsman, who surfs twice a week with other retirees at nearby White Plains Beach, said he and his family were camping at the military cabins at Nimitz Beach, where he and his son were the only ones surfing.
Felipe had just gotten into the water about 30 yards out at Nimitz Beach to surf with son Cameron, 20, and was lying on the board waiting for a wave.
"That’s when I heard the crunch of the board," he said. "I looked back and I saw the head next to my feet, so I pulled my feet back. All of a sudden I fell off because it was jerking."
The shark clamped down over the smaller 2 1⁄2-inch skeg, leaving it untouched, leaving a 16-inch-wide bite mark.
Felipe opened his eyes and saw the shark’s large silhouette and thought to himself, "I’m live bait now."
He said he didn’t panic, yanked his leash to pull the board back to him, got on and paddled quickly back to shore.
Felipe said Cameron’s words were: "What the hell was that? Get the blank out of the water."
He said his son estimated the shark as between 6 to 8 feet long.
The shark’s blunt nose and dark brown color leads him to believe it was a tiger shark.
His wife told him he tossed and turned in his sleep Monday night.
"My main concern was my son," he said, adding he felt better when he had him in his view.
He stressed: "Make sure if you go, always have a buddy system."
The area’s typically murky water makes it difficult to see what’s below the surface, but "when we surf at White Plains … you hear there’s a man in the gray suit out there."
Felipe’s mind is filled with what-ifs.
What if his son, a bodyboarder who just took up longboarding a couple of months ago, had gone out without him?
What if his wife, who prefers calmer waters, and whose 10-foot long paddleboard he was using to surf, had gone out?
"What if I was on my regular longboard," straddling the board with his legs dangling, instead of lying on the 29-inch wide paddleboard?
Felipe said he’s always been religious, but made sure he went to church Sunday night to give thanks.
"Maybe I gotta take up gardening or something," he said with a laugh.
