Florida man who survived Bahamas shark attack shares how he kept his cool: 'I'll be alright'
A native Florida man bit by multiple sharks after he slipped and fell off a fishing dock while working in the Bahamas kept his cool not only during the terrifying experience but while recalling the attack to members of the media last week.
"I'll be alright," Marlin Wakeman, who lives in the city of Stuart on Florida's Atlantic Coast, said during a news conference at the West Palm Beach hospital where he was recovering after the April 26th attack.
Wakeman, 24, told reporters, including one from the Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY NETWORK, he was working on a marina charter boat when he accidently fell into shark infested waters during low tide at Flying Fish Marina on Long Island and was attacked by two sharks.
At least 20 sharks swam around him when he hit the water and "ended up in a shark den" he recalled of the harrowing scene.
“I was like, hey man, I don't really wanna die right now, this ain't it," he recalled coolly of a terrifying experience, drawing a chuckle from members of the media and others at the press conference.
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When the first shark pulled him under
As he hung onto the boat cockpit, Wakeman said, the first shark grabbed his leg and pulled him under water.
"Kinda scrambled for a second, got my surroundings in check," he smoothly recalled.
When the shark let loose its grip, Wakeman resurfaced and, just as he managed to grab onto the boat’s deck, a second shark tried grazed his right shoulder with its teeth. After that, he said, he did a full pullup to get himself into the boat.
While remaining calm with his leg elevated, Wakeman said, a sailboat guide saw his injuries freaked out and yelled, "'He's bleeding out'... and I was like, hey, can we get this guy away from me? This is freaking me out a little bit."
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A boat captain, a tourniquet and a black out
The boat’s captain heard Wakeman’s cries for help from inside the boat. When he saw him, he tied a tourniquet on his leg, pushed him to a van in a wheelbarrow and got him into van where the someone shoved gauze into his leg wound and he passed out from pain.
Wakeman was taken to the nearest medical clinic and was later flown to Florida for surgery.
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Shark bite narrowly missed an artery in leg
Dr. Robert Borrego, Wakeman' surgeon said, the shark's bit narrowly missed a femoral artery in his leg - which could have caused him to bleed out and die.
After assessing the bite mark, the surgeon said he estimated the shark that bit his leg is about 7 feet long. Wakeman suspects he was attacked by Caribbean reef sharks.
Borrego said he expects Wakeman to make a full recovery. He took out his stitches this past week and said the shark attack victim is “healing nicely.”
Wakeman said he will be more cautious working near the water from now on. He said he “got a little lazy” after bringing fishing gear back and forth from the the dock to the boat, which makes regular fishing charter trips from Stuart to the Bahamas.
Before the fall, he said he jumped 3 feet, rather than cautiously stepping toward the boat.
“I wasn’t really scared at the moment. I just knew I had to get out as quickly as possible," the 24-year-old said. "Thankfully, I’m here to tell the story.”
Natalie Neysa Alund is a senior reporter for USA TODAY. Reach her at [email protected] and follow her on X @nataliealund.