Patrick Wardle and Megan Valentine: Paddleboarders detail 'terrifying' encounter with enormous tiger shark
KIHEI, HAWAII: Two paddleboarders in Hawaii opened up about their terrifying ocean encounter. Two friends, namely, Patrick Wardle and Megan Valentine revealed that they came into contact with a massive tiger shark a few days ago while paddleboarding in South Maui.
"We were just floating, enjoying the best of what Maui has to offer, and all of a sudden we saw this large shape approaching," Wardle stated. The 15 feet long shark approached the two as they were riding double on an inflatable paddleboard. "I thought maybe it was a giant manta ray or baby whale. Obviously, as it got closer, it became very clear that it was a massive shark," claimed Valentine, reported KHNL.
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How did paddleboarders survive the shark attack?
The two friends Wardle and Valentine attacked the shark with a paddle as it drew near and menacingly displayed its teeth. "We took the paddle and put it on its nose," Wardle stated. He added, "I’ve heard you really try to engage with them and kind of deflect them, but the paddleboard got like a boost forward because of the strength of the animal."
'I remember its eye just looking at me'
They claimed that the shark never stopped pursuing them. "It lunged out of the water and took about two feet of the paddle in its mouth, chomped down, and snapped it in half," Wardle said. But it didn't end there. They claim that the shark returned a third time. "The shark chomped on the back of the paddleboard, kind of shaking it," he stated, adding, "I remember its eye just looking at me."
'It’s terrifying but I respect it'
The paddleboarders claimed that despite the shark breaking their paddle and puncturing the board, they were able to stay on and flee. "It was terrifying," Valentine stated. They claimed that it took them about 45 minutes to paddle back to land using only their arms with the board's back deflated. They had plenty of opportunity to reflect during that period. The terrifying event changed their perspective on living and they now harbor fresh, balanced mix of reverence and awe for sharks. "Don’t want this story to scare people, but definitely something to be aware of," Valentine stated. She added, "It’s a magnificent creature and totally terrifying but I respect it."
In Hawaii, there have been 182 documented shark attacks over the past two centuries, according to the International Shark Attack File. Tiger sharks and whitetip reef sharks are frequently to blame for shark assaults on the Hawaiian Islands. As per the Hawaii State Department of Land and Natural Resources, Maui experiences the greatest number of shark occurrences out of all the islands, with twice as many shark encounters as Oahu. Between 1995 and 2022, there were 62 such incidents on Maui and 32 on Oahu.