For days, divers scanned the waters off Lovers Level hoping to discover a hint of Erica Fox, the lacking open-water swimmer believed to have been killed by a shark on Dec. 21.
The intensive search involving a number of companies got here to an finish final weekend when rescue groups recovered Fox’s physique six days after she vanished from Monterey Bay, the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Workplace confirmed Monday night time. Fox was recognized based mostly on private gadgets recovered along with her stays, together with a shark-deterrent band worn on her ankle.
“Erica was doing what she liked — linked to the ocean, alive in her aspect. That issues. She didn’t lose her life in concern, however in ardour,” Juan Heredia, a rescue diver who searched tirelessly for Fox, wrote in an announcement.
A well known determine within the native open-water swimming neighborhood, Fox was a co-founder of the Kelp Krawlers, a Pacific Grove-based group that swims year-round in Monterey Bay.
A buddy and fellow swimmer, Sara Rubin, was amongst a gaggle of 15 swimmers current when Fox disappeared. Rubin later wrote in regards to the incident in native information outlet Monterey County Now.
“A harbor seal swam underneath me for near a minute as I approached the seashore, a kind of wildlife-human interactions that we cherish,” Rubin wrote. “Like the opposite swimmers, I used to be unaware {that a} tragedy was taking place, with solely the sounds of my very own strokes splashing.”
Whereas the group was within the water, two witnesses reported the incident from shore round midday, telling Pacific Grove police {that a} swimmer could have encountered a shark, division officers mentioned. When Rubin and the others returned to the seashore, they realized Fox was not accounted for.
Police and fireplace crews from Pacific Grove and Monterey rapidly launched a search-and-rescue operation, supported by the U.S. Coast Guard, the Monterey County Sheriff’s Workplace, California State Parks and a number of plane and vessels, authorities mentioned. Seashores in Pacific Grove and Monterey closed for days as a precaution.
Regardless of greater than 15 hours of looking out throughout roughly 84 sq. nautical miles, crews have been unable to find Fox, and the lively search was suspended later that day, in accordance with police.
Divers together with Heredia and Fox’s husband, Jean-François Vanreusel, continued scouring the rocky shoreline till Fox’s stays werefound by legislation enforcement on Dec. 27 a number of miles north of Lovers Level. Cal Hearth crews used a rope system to retrieve the physique of the swimmer, clad in a black-and-blue wetsuit, from a distant stretch of seashore south of Davenport, in accordance with officers.
“Right this moment, at roughly 2:00 p.m., a physique was recovered from the ocean south of Davenport Seashore,” the Santa Cruz County Sheriff’s Workplace mentioned in an announcement. “As a result of shut proximity to the current shark assault sufferer in Monterey County, our company is working intently with the Monterey County Sheriff’s Workplace and the Pacific Grove Police Division concerning the restoration.”
Sheriff’s officers didn’t determine the physique as Fox till Monday night time. Officers mentioned a coroner’s report can be launched as soon as out there.
The encounter was the second shark-related incident at Lovers Level in three years. In 2022, 62-year-old Steve Bruemmer was rescued by passersby after a shark bit him throughout his thighs and stomach. Bruemmer belonged to the identical swimming membership.
Incidents of sharks attacking people stay uncommon in California. In line with information from the state Division of Fish and Wildlife, there have been about 230 documented shark incidents statewide since 1950, with simply 17 fatalities. Consultants say the rise in reported encounters largely displays elevated ocean use and improved reporting, not a surge in aggressive shark conduct.
At a Sunday morning memorial, membership members and pals walked collectively alongside the bluffs at Lovers Level, tracing the route of Fox’s last mile within the water, the Mercury Information reported.
In her column, Rubin remembered Fox as a “shiny mild of an individual” and a passionate triathlete and author.
“She developed a deeply intimate relationship with the Pacific Ocean not by finding out it or by taking a look at it, however by moving into it — time and again and once more, on uneven days and gloriously calm days, logging what I can solely guess are 1000’s of miles.”
