WAILUKU, Maui — "It's not every day you get bitten by a shark," said Marin County, Calif., resident Peller Marion yesterday at Maui Memorial Medical Center, where she was recovering from bite wounds to her right calf and foot.

Marion, 63, was attacked by a shark at 8:30 a.m. Monday while snorkeling at Keawakapu Beach in Kihei. She was about 25 yards from shore, in 10 to 14 feet of water, when the predator grabbed her from behind.

"All of a sudden I felt the strangest feeling. It felt like something had clenched on my foot," she said.

Her swim fin popped off, and Marion said she thought a turtle had done it, before realizing it was something much larger.

"I turned around to look and saw this big gray thing and I thought, 'Oh, ----,' and started kicking and going in the other direction," she said.

Marion, a consulting psychologist and author, said she didn't get a good look at the shark, describing it simply as "a wall" that released its grip, turned and swam away. She said she managed to swim "lopsided" to shore and began screaming, "Shark, shark!"

"I got to the beach and was so grateful to have all of my body parts," she said.

Bystanders rendered first aid before an ambulance arrived to take her to the hospital, where she was expected to stay for three to five days.

Marion, a regular Maui visitor since 1993, was on the island in December 2005 when a 29-year-old former triathlete was bitten by a shark while swimming 200 to 400 yards off Keawakapu. She said she didn't imagine anything like that happening to her: "What could be safer than snorkeling a couple yards offshore like I was?"

Marion said she wouldn't have gone swimming Monday if she'd known about another shark incident an hour earlier at Kamaole Beach Park II, less than two miles north of Keawakapu. There, Mark Jackson reported encountering a 14-foot tiger shark while on a stand-up paddleboard about 100 yards offshore.

Jackson, 47, yesterday said he took off on his paddle at 7 a.m. from Keawakapu. "I was paddling down the coast enjoying a crystal-clear morning" when a large tiger shark pulled up parallel to his 14-foot board.

"It came within two feet of my board, and from that view it was without a doubt a tiger shark," said Jackson, referring to the species' distinctive markings. "You couldn't mistake it for anything else."

The shark swam beside him for five to 10 seconds before disappearing into the deep. Jackson, who just the day before had competed in the Starbucks Kaiwi Channel Relay from Moloka'i to O'ahu, said the animal was at least as long as his board.

His first reaction was one of awe. "What I found most impressive was its girth. I just was impressed with the look of it, then 'This is not a good time to fall.' I was very surprised by my reaction. I was not as frightened as I thought my reaction would be," he said.

Still, Jackson was shaken enough to immediately head into Kama'ole Beach Park II to report the incident at 7:30 a.m.

It was not known if the same shark was involved in both incidents.

A four-mile stretch of South Maui coastline was closed from Kalama Park to the Grand Wailea Resort following the attack at Keawakapu. The beaches reopened at 12:30 p.m. yesterday after aerial surveillance reported no shark sightings.

An average of three to five shark attacks occur annually in Hawai'i. The Keawakapu attack was the second this year. On Jan. 5, an 8- to 10-foot tiger shark chomped on a surfer's board at Waiokapua Bay off Mana, Kaua'i.

The most recent fatal shark attack occurred April 7, 2004, when a surfer was mauled by a tiger shark at "S Turns" in Kahana, Maui.

Reach Christie Wilson at cwilson@honoluluadvertiser.com.