Shark bite survivor tells story

This all happened at a popular local beach.  The surfer says she won't be back out in the water, the sport she loves just isn't worth it anymore.  Tonight the 27-year-old is bandaged up, she just got out of surgery.  She says she's lucky to be alive.  Melissa Hardcastle is always out in the water, surfing all by herself, but on this trip she had unwanted company in the water.  She has been surfing for 2 and half years, and this was her worst nightmare.

She said, "My whole foot was in its mouth."

Melissa was surfing Friday night here, just south of Carlin Park in Jupiter when the shark chomped on her foot.  It quickly let go.  She didn't see the shark that got her, she just knows how it felt.

She said, "The pressure of the jaws, it was insane."

Adrenaline kicked in, in her head Melissa was telling herself to stay calm.  She was petrified, she knew she had to take one thing at a time if she wanted to save her foot.

"Get on my board, limbs in, and now I got to make it back to shore," she said.

The four minute swim back, felt like an eternity.

She said, "I kept looking back and my foot was still attached, so I was all right."

When she got back to the beach two tourists helped her, wrapping up her mangled foot with a blanket.  They called 911.  She spent Friday night at Jupiter Medical Center, got stitches Saturday morning.  Now she's on cruches now, doctors say the shark left 26 puncture wounds here on her left foot.

She said, "This was the top jaw, this was the bottom jaw and there were 3 scrapes where the teeth dragged."

Melissa thinks it was a spinner shark.  Sky 12 was out flying our coast earlier this year.   Spinner sharks, all over the place along local beaches.  Experts say it's that time of year again, several shark species, migrating to the south Florida coastline.  Lifeguards say most will stay about 100 yards off shore, but if you spot one head the other way.  For Melissa, she didn't see it coming.  However when she grabbed her board that day to head out she had bad vibes.

"I had an uneasy feeling about being out there anyway," she said.

Melissa says it's going to be months before she's all healed.  She says, for now she can't dream of getting back out into the water.