West Hawai'i beaches reopened
Advertiser Staff
HILO, Hawai'i — State and county authorities yesterday reopened Kahalu'u Beach Park and another West Hawai'i beach near where a swimmer was bitten Saturday by a 6-foot shark.
The 20-year-old Waimea man was swimming 300 yards north of Kahalu'u beach when he was attacked. He suffered bite wounds to his right lower calf and heel.
The injured man got out of the water and with the help of a friend. Firefighters bandaged the wounds and friends drove the injured man to Kona Community Hospital.
County Civil Defense officials immediately closed Kahalu'u and nearby White Sands beach, also known as Disappearing Sands or La'aloa. The parks remained closed until about 9:30 a.m. yesterday after a Fire Department helicopter spotted a 10-foot shark Sunday about 100 yards offshore outside the breakwater at Kahalu'u.
Even after the beaches reopened, signs remained in place advising swimmers that a shark had been seen in the area, said Charles Nahale, West Hawai'i supervisor of the state Division of Conservation Resource Enforcement.
Nahale said he believes this is the first shark attack in the area since late 1999, when a Rhode Island woman was bitten on the right buttock while swimming offshore from the Kona Village Resort. Still, shark sightings are common, he said.
"With the triathlon and people in the water at Kailua Bay all the time, swimmers come in at least two or three times a week saying, 'Hey, I saw a reef shark out there on the bottom,' " Nahale said. "It's not unusual for people to see sharks in the water. It's just the big guys that excite people when they come around."
Wendell Hatada, acting administrator of Big Island Civil Defense, warned that the public needs to "be aware that sharks are generally seen in Hawaiian waters and to respect nature's ways."
An average of three to four shark attacks are reported in Hawai'i each year.
