The ocean is full of some of nature’s greatest wonders as well as some of its biggest threats.
Parker Simpson knows about that last part all too well after an encounter with a reef shark left him damage to his skin, fat and muscle in his leg.
The attack occurred while he and a friend were spearfishing near Middle Sambo Reef off Boca Chica in the Keys.
“He first went at my dive buddy Justyn but immediately turned toward me,” Simpson wrote. “He first bit my left fin then took a chunk out of the right one before biting my leg and cutting the speargun line. I assumed he was trying to steal the black grouper I was holding. But after I lost the grouper and watched it swim to the bottom, the shark kept coming at us!”
The shark definitely left a mark. Although viewers can see the bite when it happens and once he gets back on the boat, the bite doesn’t look as serious as it actually was. Doctors at the emergency room spent three and a half hours stitching him up.
“Always dive with a buddy and someone who is trained in first aid! I would not have made it back to the boat without the help of another strong swimmer and would have bled out had I not been patched up so well by Amanda. The shark tore through the skin, fat tissue, muscle, muscle sheath, and unfortunately my tibial artery which caused me to lose more than a liter of blood.”
