JUPITER — Pat Hardcastle worried when her daughter drove up to New Smyrna Beach to surf.

“The shark heaven,” says Hardcastle. “She used to go up there all the time.”

But it was in the water behind the Jupiter Reef Club where Melissa Hardcastle had her first shark encounter.

The 27-year old was surfing Friday afternoon when something chomped down on her foot.

Her mother says she never saw the shark but knew what it was immediately.

“She’s got some marks. She’s lucky to have her foot, but she’s good, very good,” says Hardcastle.

Melissa never saw the shark, only felt it. Her mother says she grabbed the board and rode the waves to shore.

Lifeguards treated her there until paramedics could transport her to the emergency room.

Melissa underwent surgery Saturday morning.

Her mother says doctors needed to clean out any bacteria and sand in the wounds.

Pat expects her daughter will be back in the water one day. She loves surfing too much to be scared off by a shark.

CAROLYN SCOFIELD, TCPalm.com