2 hours ago
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So gnarly!
A Florida spearfisherman posed for incredible smiling photos while still covered in blood from a gruesome shark attack that left him with “a giant, gnarly flesh wound.”
Chance Armand grinned with his tongue out and flashing the hang loose, or gnarly, hand signal while heading back to land after his horrifying attack Sunday — with his left leg completely soaked in blood below the thigh, where he had a makeshift tourniquet.
He later told WALA that he had just scored his first catch of the day off the Pensacola Pass on the Florida panhandle when he saw an 8-foot bull shark charging toward him.
“By the time I acknowledged he wasn’t gonna turn around, it was too late,” he said.
“I didn’t really have time to react besides put my knee between myself and the shark,” he recalled.
“Thankfully, once he got a bite of my knee and realized that’s not what he was after, he turned around and swam back down.”
He made a beeline back to the boat where his friends yanked him aboard and quickly fashioned the make-shift tourniquet “out of a T-shirt, a speargun band and a fillet knife,” he said.
That was when they also snapped the photo of him smiling and flashing the hand signal just moments after his terrifying attack — with other photos showing him with an even bigger smile once in a hospital.
“By the grace of God, there was no tendon damage, no bone damage, no artery damage, it’s just one giant, gnarly flesh wound,” he said.
Armand also posted gory images of the bite, which show just how deep the shark’s razor-sharp teeth sank into his leg.
He was released from the hospital less than 24 hours later.
The veteran spearfisherman, who’s no stranger to swimming around sharks, said he’ll be back in the water soon — but plans to make sure he has proper first aid equipment on board the boat next time.
“Love what we do but definitely a reminder to soak up every moment with your family and friends because a routine day can be your last,” he wrote on Facebook.
English (US)