Updated Oct. 6
A great white shark attack sent a surfer in California to the hospital, while a Florida beach was closed after a shark bite incident.
Eric Steinley, 38, and his friend Jared Davis were searching for a good set of waves north of Bodega Bay Oct. 3, off North Salmon Creek Beach off the Sonoma Coast in California
Davis said there were around 10 other surfers in the water as he and Eric paddled out to get a better spot near the river mouth where the waves were breaking.et a better spot near the river mouth where the waves were breaking.
“For a second I couldn’t see him. A wave rolled up and went through,” Davis told KPIX CBS. “When he was back into view, I saw the dorsal fin of the shark, and the tail end of the shark. They were kind of going down into the water.”
The surfer compared the movement of the shark to that of a dolphin, and that the attack was “nice and slow.”
Steinley said he felt a pressure on his leg as the shark drug him underwater. He reached down and ended up touching its eye as he tried to understand what was happening. Once he realized it was a shark he punched it in the face and ended up cutting his hands on its teeth. Thankfully, the shark let go and he pushed it away.
He then climbed on his board and yelled a warning to Davis. The duo started paddling back to the beach and once Steinley hit the beach, he climbed up the beach until Davis reached him.
Several other surfers came to assist, and a leash was used as a makeshift tourniquet to stop the bleeding from the upper thigh wound. Thankfully, a trained paramedic was on scene and provided an actual tourniquet..
Steinley was carried on a longboard to the parking lot to an ambulance, and then a helicopter arrived. He was airlifted to Santa Rosa Memorial Hospital and at last report was in stable condition.
A GoFundMe has been created to help Steinley with his medical bills.
Shark season typically starts around the last week of August and goes into November for the West Coast.
In October 2005, surfer Megan Halavais was bitten by an estimated 20-foot white shark at the same beach.
Last year surfer Ben Kelly was killed by an estimated 10-foot white shark at San Dollar Beach, south of San Francisco.
Florida beach closed after shark bite.
Jensen Beach was temporarily closed the morning of Oct. 3 after a shark was spotted. A few hours later it reopened until around noon when a shark bit a man.
The unidentified male was standing in knee-deep water when he was bitten on the extremities. He was taken to the hospital in unknown condition.
People were back in the water a few hours later and the beach was open the following morning.
Both locations have been marked on the 2021 Shark Attack Map.
