Hawaii County lifeguards re-opened two Kailua-Kona beaches Thursday after a morning flyover found no signs of a large shark in the area. Shark warning signs though will remain posted over the holiday weekend after two women were attacked this week.
Theresa Fernandez and Alayna DeBina are all smiles now but that was not the case earlier this week. The two women survived tiger shark attacks at Lyman's Beach in Kailua-Kona. DeBina's incident happened Sunday while she was on her paddleboard with her three-year-old grandson Manoa.
"I was on the water for maybe 35 seconds maybe 40 and the next thing you know I had a huge jolt," said DeBina.
The jolt knocked both of them off the board. Initially she thought it was a turtle.
"I landed on the shark it was here and I was touching it with my hands trying to figure out what it was," she said. "The shark's head was coming out of the water and it was this tall and my mind was going wow! and I screamed it's a shark and it came up and bit my board."
She instinctively kicked it and stared at its eyes then quickly grabbed Manoa. Her husband Frank got both of them to shore.
"As I'm carrying my board out of the water and I look down at it and I see the shark bit then I pretty much collapsed to me knees and realized the reality of the situation, wow I was just attacked my a tiger shark," said DeBina.
Fernandez got her scare Wednesday while on her longboard.
"I was starting to paddle back out and I felt a really huge thump underneath my board and I thought oh I hit a turtle," said Fernandez. "I was starting to paddle then I felt my board get kind of lurched forward and grabbed back and under and I said oh this is not a turtle."
Both women escaped injury.
A shark expert does not believe it was the same animal.
"I hope that they were only because it's a little frightening to think there are two aggressive sharks out here in the same bay trying to eat surfboards," said DeBina.
As a precaution, lifeguards closed Laaloa and Kahaluu Beach Park, both were re-opened Thursday.
"It's pretty surreal you know what happened but I'm really grateful that I can stand here and tell people about it," said Fernandez. "The only thing that's stopping me from surfing is the fact that I need a board."
