A visiting kite-boarder was bitten Thursday afternoon by a shark at the Kaa Point area of Kanaha Beach Park in Kahului, fire officials and the state Department of Land and Natural Resources said.
The attack was the 12th shark encounter off Maui in the past 16 months. Maui leads the state in shark attacks. It was the 22nd statewide for 2012 and 2013.
County spokesman Rod Antone said the man bitten Thursday was a foreign visitor in his 40s.
County lifeguards, using rescue watercraft, spotted a 12- to 15-foot tiger shark in the water a half-hour after the attack, which happened at 3:19 p.m., DLNR and county officials said.
The kite-boarder arrived on shore, calling for help and saying he had been bitten by a shark, a DLNR official said in an email.
Lifeguards treated a wound on his right calf and small cuts to his heel.
The man was alert and told firefighters he got ashore by kite-boarding from a considerable distance out, Fire Services Chief Lee Mainaga said via email.
He was transported to Maui Memorial Medical Center in stable condition.
A witness said the kite-boarder was about 300 yards offshore and had fallen into the water when he was bitten while holding on to the board, DLNR said.
Lifeguards closed the beach, a mile in either direction, from Papa Ula Point off Stable Road to Pier 1 at Kahului Harbor, DLNR said. DLNR staff and lifeguards posted shark warning signs.
The beach remained closed overnight, and an assessment will be made this morning. If there is no further sign of the shark, the beach will reopen at noon, officials said.
Two other shark incidents occurred in October. On Oct. 23 a 45-year-old Maui man was swimming in 10 feet of water 100 yards offshore near the mouth of a stream in Kaehu Bay when he felt something hit his upper torso and buttocks. He received shallow cuts to his lower left back, was treated at the scene and drove himself to the hospital.
On Oct. 20 a 25-year-old Kauai surfer and former boxer escaped injury by repeatedly punching a shark at Kilauea and jamming a knuckle in its eye. He was knocked into the water when the shark bit his board.
