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10/25/2022 - Scott Hill - Hawaii Attack with bite to fin

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alb
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10/25/2022 - Scott Hill - Hawaii Attack with bite to fin

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Shark incident leaves Helena man feeling thankful

Heather Hill says she has changed the ringtone on her phone for whenever her husband, Scott, calls.

It now plays the theme song from “Jaws.”

Scott Hill was snorkeling Tuesday afternoon on Kalapaki Beach on the island of Kauai when he felt something tug at the flipper on his foot as he swam through water that he said was a little cloudy.

The 51-year-old Helena resident didn’t think much of it, returned to the beach and noticed a half-moon shaped chunk of his flipper was missing.

He is now believed to be the survivor of an encounter with what experts think was an 11-12 foot tiger shark. But testing is still underway.

Hill was oblivious to what happened until he showed his relatives who live in Hawaii what happened. They took the fin to the state’s division of aquatic resources, who told Hill that their expert believes it was a tiger shark but wants to do more DNA testing.

“They were pretty excited,” Hill said, “(Shark attacks do) not happen very often, they are pretty rare.”

“It sounds like I got away with something,” he said, adding it was probably lucky he did not see attack as he doesn’t know if he would have panicked. He added that tiger sharks are usually blamed for such incidents. "They are like the dump truck of the ocean."

His wife, Heather, said she was in the water as well, but some distance from her husband.

“I had my eye on him,” she said, adding he is “one of those guys that goes off a lot” on his own.

Heather Hill said he came up to the shore and eventually asked her if she noticed the fin.

“I won’t tell you what I said,” Heather said.

Heather Hill said her husband said right away that maybe he should go buy a lottery ticket.

She said another relative showed them the fin and said the shark’s teeth were about 1 inch in diameter.

“That is when I slowly started to think ‘Crap,’” Heather said.

Aaron Swink, with the division of aquatic resources, said what happened to Hill is actually described as a "shark incident."

But he adds: "His fin was definitely bitten by a shark. It’s a very clear bite."

"The fin saved his life, or saved his toes," he said.

The Hills returned to the water Wednesday and went swimming in an area where the water was clearer.

Scott Hill said he had a little nervousness, but otherwise did fine.

“I didn’t let it ruin my time here,” he said.

Hill, the owner of Design+Craft Inc. in Helena, said Hawaii officials have said they will return his fin to him when they are done testing so that he can keep it as a souvenir.

“I consider myself lucky,” he said, adding that in the future he will try to pay more attention to his surroundings and not go off into murky water.

Heather Hill said shark encounters are pretty rare in Hawaii, adding there have been about 230 since 1900, “and we are one of them.”

She said the Hawaiians call October “Sharktober.”

“I know a lot more about sharks than when I got here,” Heather said.

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