WAIEHU, MAUI » A 30-year-old Kahului man was recovering Sunday after suffering severe cuts above his right ankle in a shark attack at the Central Maui area known as Sand Piles.
Friends say diver Mark Riglos had just paddled out with his buddy, Kaulana Kaaa, when the incident occurred Sunday at about 8:09 a.m.
"They just got out to the drop-off, which is like a 20-, 30-minute paddle-out … and they didn’t event shoot any fish yet," said Jarrett Nanod, another diver participating in the annual Maui Roi Round-up tournament.
The shark, about 15 feet long, circled back, but Riglos kept it away with his spear gun, firefighters said.
A shark also harassed surfers Sunday morning near Davidson’s surf break on the west side of Kauai, leaving deep tooth marks in one man’s board.
The state Department of Land and Natural Resources closed both beaches for the remainder of the day and will reassess the situation today, said spokeswoman Deborah Ward.
Nanod said, "Kaulana, who is an X-ray technician at Kaiser, he put a tourniquet on and told Mark to calm down, and they ended up ditching their weight belts, their gear and their spear guns. He swam Mark all the way in and calmed him down, which was pretty cool."
Firefighters responded to the scene at about 8:21 a.m.
The tournament is aimed at removing invasive fish, including roi, or peacock grouper, from Maui’s reefs.
Near Kekaha, Kauai, eight to 10 surfers were sitting on their boards 75 to 150 yards offshore at about 8 a.m. when an 8- to 10-foot shark came up from underneath one of the men, bit the tail of his board and released it, Ward said. No injuries were reported.
Jason Paliracio said he was paddling out to join his friends when he saw all of them hurrying back in after the incident, and he called 911 once back ashore.
"My daughter said she saw the guy roll off of his board," he said. "And he later told us that he got off his board when he noticed the back of his board being bit by a shark."
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Star-Advertiser reporter Sarah Zoellick contributed to this report.
