A fisherman who was mauled by a shark described how the shark's razor-sharp teeth punctured his flesh, saying the sensation was similar to getting punched.
Florida resident Marlin Wakeman considers himself "lucky" to be alive after he fell from a dock into shark-infested seas in the Bahamas and was pulled beneath the surface. The 24-year-old attempted to jump to the docked yacht he was working on on April 26 when he was at the Flying Fish Marina in Long Island.
Marlin was attacked by several vicious predators as soon as he fell into the water, and they started to feast on his knee.
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The fisherman's friends were reportedly joking about a shark attack moments before the incident (marlin_wakeman0011/Instagram)
He described the shark's bite on his shoulder as feeling like "a punch" (marlin_wakeman0011/Instagram)“When I ended up in the water, I pretty much knew what was going to happen,” he told local outlets Thursday. He stated that the harbor is frequently overwhelmed with sharks that you could nearly "walk on their heads" and that falling in was something he "kinda thought about."
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Adding: "Me and my buddies were talking about like, man, if you fell in here, like, you are done. You’re not even going to have a second to really react.”
The fisherman described the initial bite as a nightmare encounter, saying, "He grabbed me, pulled my head underwater, and then let go of me."
Merlin said he was extremely fortunate that he didn't shake his head or cling on for a while. Then another shark bit into his shoulder, triggering a rush of adrenaline that made the man realize he would not survive if he did not take action. He was fortunate enough to manage to pull himself back into his boat, where the captain applied a tourniquet to his leg.
“I had so much adrenaline going through my body that it was like a fight or flight kind of thing,” he explained. “I got back into the boat and kind of assessed what happened and looked at my leg. It wasn’t really bleeding yet. It was kind of, you know, all mangled.”
He described the shark's bite on his shoulder as "a punch," adding that he didn't feel the teeth go in. He was later flown to Florida to undergo surgery at St. Mary's medical center in West Palm Beach.
The shark pierced Wakeman's kneecap, but Dr. Robert Borrego said it narrowly avoided puncturing an artery. Based on the size of the bite mark, the trauma surgeon estimated the shark's length to be approximately 7 feet (2 meters).
Borrego stated that he believes Marlin will fully recover. Marlin stated he might have some "nightmares" after the attack, but he doesn't plan to give up fishing just yet. He plans to get back in the sea as soon as possible.
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