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SANTA ROSA, Calif., Oct. 21, 2005

Shark Bite Victim To Surf Again

Attacked While Surfing; Expected To Make Full Recovery

By Stephen W Smith
  • Play CBS Video Video Shark Victim Recounts Attack

    Megan Halavais was attacked by a 14-foot great white shark at Salmon Creek Beach along the Sonoma, Calif., coast. Halavais got away after hitting the shark on its tail. Hattie Kauffman reports.

    • Megan Halavais during hospital news conference

      Megan Halavais during hospital news conference  (CBS/EARLY SHOW)

    • Dr. Dave Hardin, who treated Megan Halavais, and eyewitness David Bryant on <i><b>The Early Show</i></b> Thursday.

      Dr. Dave Hardin, who treated Megan Halavais, and eyewitness David Bryant on The Early Show Thursday.  (CBS/EARLY SHOW)

    • A shark warning sign is seen above Salmon Creek Beach near Bodega Bay, Calif. Megan Halavais, 20, of Santa Rosa, Calif., was seriously injured when she was attacked by a shark while surfing.

      A shark warning sign is seen above Salmon Creek Beach near Bodega Bay, Calif. Megan Halavais, 20, of Santa Rosa, Calif., was seriously injured when she was attacked by a shark while surfing.  (AP /Mark Aronoff)

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(CBS)  Just a day after being attacked by a giant shark while surfing off northern California, Megan Halavais said she has every intention of going back to surfing.

Halavais described her ordeal during a news conference at Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital Thursday, reports Hattie Kauffman.

She told reporters, "I looked back and it was like, huge, straight out of 'Jaws.' … (It) came up from behind me, (then,) chomp!

"I just turned right away, and I was like, 'Shark!' It was huge. It was like twice the size of me. Huge fin, like, the fin was as tall as me."

Halavais, 20, was surfing about a mile north of Bodega Bay, Calif. Wednesday when the shark struck.

"It wasn't like, 'I have to fight for my life,' " she continued. "It was like, 'Whoa, ahh, what's going on?' … I barely remember. I remember grabbing the shark. I don't remember going underwater."

Friends surfing nearby saw her vanish.

"We we charging in ... slapping the water and screaming at the shark: 'Hey, no, no, no," David Bryant told the assembled media.

Bryant, who was only a few feet away, told The Early Show Wednesday, "The shark actually pulled her underwater, and there was no sign of her board or her. At that point my heart sank. I thought. 'Oh my god. I mean, is that the last time we're going to see her?' "

"We all started paddling toward her right away," lifeguard Brit Horn said in a separate interview. "She popped up, screaming."

Friends helped pull Halavais to shore. She was airlifted to a nearby hospital. Her leg had nearly been severed.

Continued



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