Anthony Feaster, 36, spoke about his nightmare encounter with the shark in the waters off the East End, Grand Bahama. Mr Feaster also was in the pathway of Hurricane Dorian in 2019, which swept through Sweetings Cay, also on the Grand Bahama. Shark attacks are rare, but this year has seen 68 total so far and 2019 seeing 101.
Mr Feaster spoked to The Tribune, a news outlet on the island, about his horror encounter with the Shark while he was fishing with a friend.
He said: “I felt something clasp onto my hand wrist, and without thinking at all, I started to wrestle with this thing.
“I remember pulling my hand out of its mouth, and that is how I really got away from it and received all that damage; and why my hand is all torn the way it is because – I pulled it out of its mouth.”
While the encounter lasted no more than five seconds before the spear fisherman wrestled the shark off, it managed to rip through several tendons in his right hand and wrist.
READ MORE: Shark terror as 13-foot beast swims through pool of blood off Florida as Melania visits
Mr Feaster also added that the shark was “about 10 to 12 ft long” and “dashed away” following the brief but brutal encounter.
With the help of his partner Mr Feaster was able to reenter the boar, before the pair headed back to nearby McLean’s Town.
He added: “I lost a lot of blood; it was a lot of blood in the boat.
“I don’t know how all that blood came out of me and I didn’t die.”
Now, because of the shark attack, surgeons have told the spearfisher it will likely be a year until he has finished rehabilitation.
He added to the Tribune: “I have a son I have to take care of; the house is gone in the storm and I was just in the process of trying to build that back”.
Mr Feaster has stressed he cannot wait to get back to fishing, and after he had his first shark encounter when he was 17 years old has said “I am not afraid to the point that I will never go back into the water again or spearfishing again.”
He also said his priority is to rebuild his Sweetings Cay home, and added: “Before the storm, I had spent eight years building my house there and I didn’t live in it for two years before the storm destroyed it.”
So far this year 68 shark attacks have been reported across the world, with all of them leading to injury.
Website TrackingSharks also reported nine fatal shark attacks this year.
Of the number reported, 32 have been seen in the US and 21 have occurred in Australia.
In 2019, a 21-year-old woman was mauled by tiger sharks at the island before dying at Nassau Hospital.