Shark Attacks Surfer Near Bodega Bay

POSTED: 1:23 pm CDT October 19, 2005
UPDATED: 6:16 pm CDT October 19, 2005

A young surfer who was paddling into the water was seriously injured Wednesday when she was grabbed from behind by a shark, pulled underwater and bit on the leg, authorities said.
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Megan Hallava, 20, of Santa Rosa, was surfing off Salmon Creek Beach, a mile north of Bodega Bay, when the attack occurred at 11 a.m.

Hallava described the shark as 14 feet long and said she was released when she hit the shark on the tail, according to Sonoma County Sheriff's Department spokesman Lt. Roger Rude.

Hallava was helped from the water by other surfers. She was taken to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital with a bite that stretched from her thigh to her calf, but she's listed in good condition, Rude said.

Salmon Creek Beach has been the site of several shark attacks in recent years, Rude said. Police believe the shark was likely a great white. They have closed the beach and warned surfers in nearby locations.

Rude said Hallava was an experienced surfer.

BODEGA BAY, Calif. A surfer who survived an attack by a 16-foot shark is talking about the attack.

Speaking as she sat in a wheelchair at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital, Megan Halavais said she got away from the shark after it bit hit her by hitting it on the tail.

The 20-year-old Halavais says just before the attack, the water was eerily glassy and calm.

She was helped from the water by other surfers. Halavais was hospitalized with a bite that stretched from her thigh to her calf.

The attack took place off Salmon Creek Beach in Sonoma County, a spot along the coast that has been the been the site of several shark attacks in recent years.

Authorities believe the shark was probably a great white.

They have closed the beach and warned surfers in nearby locations.

Megan Halavais, who was recuperating at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital a day after being bitten by a shark while surfing north of California's Bodega Bay described her attack as being ?like straight out of 'Jaws'". The 20-year old, who has been into surfing for about two years said she was shocked when she turned around to find a shark twice her size and a fin as tall as she was, just trying to have a go at her.

She said she felt the ocean a bit a bit "sharky" that day near the Bodego Bay and could not say why she encountered the strange premonition yesterday day paddling near the Sonoma County's Salmon Creek Beach. But only a few moments later it turned out to be real, as a great white took to chomp at her right leg, pulling her into the water. She said, "It wasn't like, 'I have to fight for my life? It was like, 'What's going on?'? and that she grabbed the shark seemed to have shaken the shark a little bit. Her friends who had been surfing alongside saw her go in to the water and realized it was a shark attack. They charged in, slapping at the water and hollering as she "popped up, screaming".


On hind site she said that the popular spot called Boardwalks, where the waves were head-high, ?was really glassy, really calm? that one could see straight to the bottom. But being "kind off a little bit from the group? she felt the weird feeling of not being alone. But the area not as well known for shark attacks as Florida's panhandle, had one or two odd instances when a bodyboarder was bitten a few years ago near the Salmon Creek or the case of a person being pushed off the board by a shark. But for shark attacks, the summer is the prime time, as they swim closer to the warm surfaces, foraging for food.

Halavais' grabbing the shark possibly caused the shark to turn to its side, revealing its white stomach and scaring it off as it she said, ?I think it just bit and let go?. While relating the incident, the toughie that Halavais was surrendered to tears saying, "This is the first time I've cried... It's just kind of a lot to handle". In fact, she even did not realize that she had such a big gash, till got back on her board to paddle to the shore. He right leg was limp as she tried to take long deep breaths as her friends suggested. Her friends bandaged her leg in an undershirt, as they rushed her to hospital even as she felt the searing pain like that of a sore muscle.

But Halvais says who nearly severed her leg, "I'll be back out... It (surfing) is an addiction (and) this is not going to make me stop?. While Dr.Dave Hardin at the hospital rues over her damaged leg "cut all the way to the bone?, Halvais is optimistic, ?I figure it's happened once, it won't happen again. If I get bit again, that's the Guinness Book of Records". The lifeguard that Halvais is, she will remember some of her own leg's anatomy as she returns to her biology class at the community college.

<font color="#a62a2a" size="1">[ November 10, 2005 03:11 PM: Message edited by: Great White ]</font>