A Florida man revealed what it felt like when two sharks mauled him after falling off a boat.
It’s pretty much a standard fear - being eaten by a shark - but a fisherman who was attacked can’t wait to get back out to sea.
Marlin Wakeman, 24, was working on a yacht in the Bahamas when he found himself at the mercy of sharks.
On April 26, Wakeman was aboard the boat at the Flying Fish Marina in Long Island and attempted to jump onto the docked yacht, missed and fell into the sea.
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He explained that he knew as soon as he hit the water what was going to happen to him, as he was surrounded by sharks who began biting his leg and shoulder.
He said to the local news at the time: "When I ended up in the water, I pretty much knew what was going to happen.”
This is because the marina was so infested with the beasts that you could almost ‘walk on their heads’.
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He continued: "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."
But the previous conversation soon became his reality when the first shark grabbed him.
Wakeman explained how it felt, according to the Mirror: "He grabbed me, pulled my head underwater, and then let go of me.”
It was after it released him that another came up and clamped down on his shoulder, which spurred him on to pulling himself back on to the boat.
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He said: "I had so much adrenaline going through my body that it was like a fight or flight kind of thing.
"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."
Calling it similar to the feeling of ‘a punch’, Wakeman was soon airlifted to Florida at the St. Mary's Medical Center in West Palm Beach for emergency surgery.
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According to Dr. Robert Borrego, the shark had bit into his kneecap and had just missed severing an artery.
They estimated the shark was around seven feet long by the size of the bite but believe that he’s going to make a full recovery.
Wakeman admitted that the ordeal could cause him to have nightmares, but he still wants to get back out to the water and continue his fishing career.
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Someone who follows the fisherman on Instagram released a little tribute to him two weeks ago, writing: "A little deviation today from my orca and save the planet from plastics obsessions. I follow @marlin_wakeman0011 because his page is awesome and we share a love of adventure and spearfishing. But I stumbled across this a few minutes ago. No bloody fish or stringers of fish were involved. I’m going to make a single point and try to avoid the “Sharks are Friends” social media debate. Sharks are apex predators. We are in their world as guests. Maintaining a healthy respect for all wild creatures is kind of a lifesaving strategy that has kept me enjoying our planet for nearly six decades (but WTF do I know). I don’t personally know Marlin, but I hope to meet him some day. He’s a rockstar imo and the Ocean Gods gave him a get out of jail free card. Being attacked and surviving a malicious shark attack gets my respect. Total bada**ery."
Indeed it is!
Britt Jones