Jordan Snow, 29, who was swimming with the victim as part of a group called the Maui Mermaids, said he did not hear the woman, whom he referred to as Barbara, scream but heard her tell the 20 other swimmers off Kamaole Beach Park I to get out of the water.
"After that, I said, 'You heard the lady, everybody get out of the water,' " Snow recalled telling the others. "She was being a tough lady."
Snow, who is a friend of the victim, said: "She was hurt, bit really badly. She was bleeding so badly."
Russ Butcher, who was on the beach, said he saw the woman come ashore. He described her injuries as a "couple little gashes in a radius" on the woman's upper right thigh. There also was a piece of loose skin and scrapes on the woman's ankle.
"It looked like a reef shark bite," said the 53-year-old Kihei resident.
The woman, 58, was taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center and was in stable condition Monday afternoon, said hospital spokeswoman Karey Kapoi.
South Maui beaches will remain closed at least until noon today, after the reported shark attack about 30 yards offshore from Kamaole Beach Park I at about 10:30 a.m., state and county officials said.
The woman was reportedly floating on the surface and hanging onto a foam floatation device when she was bitten on her right calf and right thigh by something, said Fire Services Chief Edward Taomoto. The victim reported seeing what looked like a large shark before swimming to shore on her own power, he said.
She was assisted out of the water by bystanders in front of the lifeguard tower, Taomoto said.
Snow said that the victim, who is a Kihei resident, was swimming with around 20 others near the shoreline at Kamaole I Beach Park. She swam off by herself near a buoy.
"I was worried about her all the time," he said, noting that October was the peak time for shark bites in Hawaii, according to state officials. There were two shark attacks last month, including one off nearby Charley Young Beach that badly injured a swimmer's leg.
Butcher, who still was sitting on the beach a couple of hours after the incident, said he didn't hear any commotion in or out of the water. He said the ocean was clear and calm when the incident occurred.
"I was ready to go in. (Then) I see the lady walk out and sit down," said Butcher, who was about 30 feet away from the woman while she was on the beach.
A man who was with the woman yelled at ocean safety officers in the tower to alert them of the woman's injuries and to bring down their medical kit.
The woman is a frequent beachgoer, who wears a bright green bathing suit, Butcher said. He said that the woman was part of a beach group he calls the "noodle gang" because they swim in the waters off the beach with their floatation devices. Lifeguards said that the woman is a frequent swimmer at the beach and swims there every day, Taomoto said.
© The Maui News A Maui County ocean safety officer patrols the coastline near Kamaole Beach Park I, where a woman was the victim of an apparent shark attack Monday morning. The 58-year-old woman was in stable condition at Maui Memorial Medical Center after the attack.
Butcher said that, after the attack, lifeguards used a loudspeaker to get swimmers out of the water. A small boat was launched to warn people about the attack before personal watercraft arrived to patrol the waters.
Monday's incident was the seventh reported shark encounter this year on Maui, with the two most recent ones causing injury to swimmers, based on data on the state Department of Land and Natural Resources' "Hawaii Sharks" website.
On Oct. 14, a woman was bitten between Charley Young and Kamaole Beach Park I while swimming in about 7 feet of water. The unidentified woman suffered deep lacerations to her lower left leg and a minor laceration to her left foot.
On Oct. 21 at Hookipa Beach Park, Federico Jaime suffered lacerations to his left arm, hand and leg. He was surfing in turbid water when he was bitten by an unknown type of shark that was 6 to 8 feet long, according to the website.
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