Spear Fisherman Bitten by Shark Off Florida Coast
What started as a typical freediving adventure in Florida turned into a terrifying experience for a seasoned spear fisherman when a bull shark bit him.
Chance Armando, a 28-year-old from Oklahoma, began spearfishing in 2020 and picked up freediving this year. He mentioned that while encountering sharks is common, he typically didn’t expect anything dramatic to happen.
“You might spot them, and they may eye your catch, but they usually don’t do much,” Armando shared.
During his August 2nd outing, which was his first time diving in the ocean, he said his family expressed concerns over sharks. He reassured them, saying, “Oh, don’t worry, the sharks don’t do anything to you.”
While his group noticed some sharks while fishing, Armando had no idea. “Everyone jumped in at 65 feet, and I decided to dive in too,” he explained. Waiting for the fish to get comfortable around him, he shot a yellow jack and began reeling it in to avoid alerting sharks.
But at about 55 feet, he caught sight of a bull shark approaching. “He shot in to grab some fish before the other sharks and just happened to connect with me,” he recounted. “As soon as he bit my leg and realized I wasn’t a fish, he let go, which I’m grateful for.”
After the shark took the fish and swam away, Armando resurfaced and alerted his group. They quickly returned to the boat and made makeshift tourniquets with spear gun bands, knives, and t-shirts to stop the bleeding.
Armando later posted a picture on Facebook showing him smiling as he came ashore, displaying a positive attitude despite the pain. When asked how he managed to stay so upbeat, he said he focused on what he could control and “gave God the rest.”
“It was serious, and I needed to stop the bleeding,” he noted. Once he saw the tourniquet working, he felt a bit of relief. The ride back to shore felt like a long wait, he admitted.
Once on land, emergency responders transported him to the hospital, where doctors cleaned and stitched the wound. Miraculously, he said, “Every tooth dodged the critical stuff. There was no structural damage. Nothing was hit; not my ligaments, arteries, or bones.”
Armando expressed his hope for divers to be more cautious in recognizing sharks’ behavior. He plans to return to the water after he heals, aiming for the grouper season starting September 1st.
“I’m just hoping to avoid any infections,” he added. “In the future, I will definitely pay more attention to the body language of the sharks.”
A spokesperson for Escambia County confirmed they received a 911 call about the incident, and Armando was supported by firefighters from Naval Air Station Pensacola.
