A South African spear fisherman is lucky as hell to be alive after suffering minimal injuries during a great white shark attack off the coast of Port St. Johns.
Mathieu Dasnois, 29, was on a sightseeing tour of the ocean when he hopped into the deep to test out a scuba mask. Within minutes, a great white was upon him and in strike mode. Dasnois was able to escape the great predator using an old move made famous by…the Three Stooges.
Swimming in shallow waters some 20 metres from the boat, Mr Dasnois spent less than two minutes in the water before the dorsal fin of a 4-metre great white shark was spotted heading in his direction.
“It was bloody huge,” said Mr Dasnois, speaking from Mthatha, a city in the Eastern Cape province. “I didn’t see the first attack, it gripped my leg, took it in its mouth and swam. I poked it in the eye with my left thumb.”
The shark let go and came back again. I’m pretty sure it attacked me three times.”
Dasnois arm and leg got the worst of the attack, but the fisherman will survive to poke another day. Obviously, he’s going back for more.
Mr Dasnois, who has been spearfishing for years, says that despite the attack, he’s planning on returning to the ocean. “One day,” he laughs, “but it will be close to a boat in very clear water.”
You’d be lucky to get me in a bathtub.
[via UK Telegraph]