On July 29, Erik Norrie was vacationing with his family in the Bahamas when he went spearfishing for their dinner. A nearby shark sized him up, declared him a meaty wuss, and took a huge bite out of the Florida man's left leg.

Norrie recalled the ordeal for My Fox Tampa Bay:

"All of the sudden I felt this [crunch] on the back of my leg. And just as I looked back, he was just finishing his bite and ripping and swimming off, and you could see a piece of my leg in his mouth. My first reaction was, 'Aaaahhh!' And I real quickly flipped my right foot into the shallowest water I could get in and I stood up and I picked my leg up out of the water."

He was losing blood, and fast.

"I immediately threw the spear down with the fish because there was an enormous pool of blood around me and that shark was swimming all through the blood, sort of looking around, for more," continued Norrie.

....

A doctor, vacationing from San Diego, just happened to be within three minutes of them and helped the family get Norrie to shore and to a medical facility, and then to Jackson Hospital in Miami.

"That was a tough ride," said Norrie. "I really did think I was going to die."

Yet, this survival story might be one of least interesting things about Mr. Erik Norrie. Near the end of My Fox Tampa Bay's report, we also learn that the Largo resident was:

  • Struck by lightning once.
  • Bitten on the right leg by a rattlesnake.
  • Punched by a monkey.
  • Twice.

Way to bury the lede.

[h/t @FloridaMan // image via My Fox Tampa Bay]

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