A woman killed in an apparent shark attack was "following her dreams" and taking up surfing, a gut-wrenching Facebook post reveals.
Kristine Allen was snorkelling in Maui, Hawaii, with her husband when she vanished on December 8, with authorities later discovering part of a swimsuit and snorkel mask.
Witnesses, including Kristine's husband Blake Allen, claimed to have seen a tiger shark - an aggressive shark known to have attacked humans - swimming close to the shore at the time.
Just days earlier, the 60-year-old massage therapist from Washington state, US, had been learning to surf after posting of wanting "for years" to take up the water-sport.
In the post, she wrote: "I am committed to create a life I love in big and small ways."
"I have used surfing metaphors for years," she added.
"Work to get on the wave then ride the wave. Don’t over work use the universal force like a wave to carry you to your dreams. But I had never surfed.
"Now that I hav [sic], the metaphors hold even deeper felt sense."
Searches were carried out by the US Coast Guard, Maui Fire Department and ocean rescue crews to try and locate Kristine after the alarm was raised, but after 40 hours the search was called off.
Department of Land and Natural Resources spokesman Dan Dennison has since put her disappearance down to a "possible shark-human encounter".
The horrifying disappearance near Keawakapu Point in south Maui follows another shark attack three months ago, in which a woman suffered serious injuries after a bite to her leg.
Hawaii news reports said the woman, a French tourist who was swimming at the time, was left in a critical condition from the suspected shark bite in September.
While unprovoked shark attacks are extremely rare, tiger sharks have been known to bite humans and sometimes even inflict fatal injuries.
The species are regarded as one of the most dangerous, alongside great whites.
