A Pearl City man says he'll be wary of getting back in the water after a shark bit his surfboard.
Nimitz Beach in Ewa was closed from Sunday through Monday morning after the incident.
Moses Felipe, a father of five, had a special weekend outing planned with the family at Nimitz Beach. He and his youngest son were about 30 yards offshore surfing, and then -
"All I heard and felt was the crunch on the board, and I looked back and I seen the nose of the shark," Felipe says. "It was like 'krrck' and then I looked back, and my foot was right there you know?"
"It kind of jiggled me off the board, I fell in, and I looked in the water I seen the whole figure of it," Felipe says.
The whole figure of what the Navy says was a six to seven foot Tiger Shark.
"Instead of pulling the leash I had to swim back to the board, not knowing that splashes would be da kine," Felipe says. "My son who was my main concern was maybe 25 feet away...he yelled out and said, 'What was that dad, get the blank out of the water' so we paddled to shore."
"Our youngest son came running up to the beach and said 'dad almost got bit by a shark' and I just took off by where he was and see if he was ok," said Moses' wife, Cheryl Felipe. "He was ok, intact, everything was together, there was no blood."
No blood, but big shark teeth gashes in the board. One of the first things they did afterward -- get out of there and get to church.
"I said 'Thank god we're here to tell the story...thank god that he was watching over us'," Felipe said.
They alerted military and lifeguard authorities.
"A little ways down had a beach with a lot of kids and stuff," Felipe says.
It wouldn't be the first time a shark was spotted that day. Another sighting happened late in the afternoon.
"Our son called us up and said they seen him again dad so they closed the beach, once again," Felipe says.
The Navy kept the beach closed until 6 a.m. Monday. Moses says he knows shark encounters can be a risk of surfing or swimming in the ocean.
"But when it happens to you, you're out of the water, you're gone," Felipe says."If you ask me if I'm gonna get back in the water, it's gonna take some time."
