Shark bites film maker - Farallon Islands, California

[DandyDon]

Man rescued after suffering shark bite near Farallon Islands, officials say

SAN FRANCISCO (KGO) --
The U.S. Coast Guard says that a man was rescued near the Farallon Islands after suffering from a shark bite.

The bite was reportedly on his wrist and forearm.

He's been identified as Ron Elliot, a commercial diver and documentary film maker who has been diving at the islands for more than 30 years, according to a NOAA Greater Farallones spokesperson.

His recent film "Near Miss" is about the time he was almost attacked by a shark. In a previous film that he was featured in, "Devil's Teeth," Elliot said, "I've been making my living diving for sea urchins since 1978. I know my wife when I first started diving out there, I knew she was wondering what would happen if something did happen to me and nobody else was on the boat. If I did get bit, the odds of somebody being there to help me are next to nil, but that doesn't stop me from doing what I'm doing."

It's believed Elliot was filming underwater at the time of the attack. He was picked up from a vessel called NorCal 1 and then then transferred to Stanford Medical Center by helicopter.

NOAA's spokesperson says that Elliot is reportedly doing alright and is being treated at the hospital.

 

[Akimbo]

Wow, this is eerily familiar. Leroy French was attacked in 1962 at the Farallons. He and Al Giddings founded the Bamboo Reef dive shop in Northern California and were some of the early manufacturers of underwater camera housings. I remember doing my best to hide the newspaper accounts from my parents since I had recently started a diving class.

I was sure glad to see that this diver, Ron Elliot, was able to walk off the chopper.

 

[Jersey]

Wow, this is eerily familiar. Leroy French was attacked in 1962. He and Al Giddings founded the Bamboo Reef dive shop in Northern California and were some of the early manufacturers of underwater camera housings. I remember doing my best to hide the newspaper accounts from my parents since I had recently started a diving class..

That was my first thought as well. Diving with Lee in St. Marteen (Ocean Explorers) started my dive love affair. I also saw my first shark with him on something like all time OW dive #5.

Glad the diver is expected to be ok.

 

[scubadada]

I immediately assumed this was a GWS bite, the article does not say. The Devil's Teeth is an absolutely riveting book, if you have not read it, do.

Here is a picture of Ron Elliott, from the book:

 

[drrich2]

I’m glad he survived and was said to be doing okay. I hope when practical he’ll share whether there was anything known to be different about conditions when he was bitten, or whether it was bad luck of the draw.

Richard.

 

[johndiver999]

 

[Shasta_man]

<< different about conditions >> I think in that area it's either lots of sharks or lots of sharks

 

[drrich2]

Yeah, but was the viz worse than usual, was he at the surface vs at depth, these questions would be good to answer. We may have to write it off as a fluke, but if there’s anything to learn from it I hope we do. Did he fight back, or did it ‘nip’ and move on?

Richard.

 

[tomfcrist]

<< different about conditions >> I think in that area it's either lots of sharks or lots of sharks

There’s lots of sharks on virtually every dive I do....not white sharks usually though.

 

[scubadada]

Just imagine what Ron Elliot has seen during his 40 years of urchin harvesting at the Farallons, wow, wow