WEST PALM BEACH — As Michael Reich spearfished a hogfish snapper in the waters off the Bahamas on July 15, he didn’t know a 5-foot shark was watching. That was until the shark sunk its teeth deep into his left elbow.
Reich dropped his spear and hoped the shark would chase after the snapper instead. But the shark, which Reich suspects was a bull or reef shark, shook his arm for a few seconds before letting go. Reich looked the shark straight in the eyes as he swam away.
The U.S. Marine veteran and pilot stayed calm through the pain. Even with a mangled arm, he was able to grab onto the side of his boat and pull himself up, where his two sons and wife Jill awaited.
Jill Reich said the shark attack looked like a scene from a movie, with dramatic thrashing and blood. In the boat, she tied a tourniquet around her husband’s arm with a cast net and drove the boat as fast as she could back to a marina in Spanish Cay.
“The whole thing happened so quickly,” said 66-year-old Reich of West Palm Beach. “In 10 seconds, it was over. When I was on the boat, my biggest fear wasn’t the pain. … there was just a lot of blood. I thought, ‘This isn’t good.’”
Shark bite survivor says he won’t give up love of spear fishing
After a one-night stay at a hospital in Nassau, Reich took a flight back to Florida and went to St. Mary’s Medical Center, where doctors performed multiple surgeries to repair his arm.
He stayed there for a week and will wear an extended sling for at least three weeks. His doctor expects him to make a full recovery. Reich wants to spearfish again as soon as he can — he has a house in the Bahamas and loves spending time in the ocean.
“I’m lucky,” Reich said. “Everything after the bite went good.”
Stopping the bleeding is the first course of action after a shark bite, because bleeding out is the greatest threat to life. After a patient is stabilized, infection becomes the top concern. Dr. Robert Borrego, who directs St. Mary’s trauma center, treats shark attack patients with a “targeted approach” to antibiotics.
Reich shared his story at a reunion event at St. Mary’s on July 23 with five of some of the only people who know how he feels. They, too, have survived shark bites. They know what kind of rehabilitation is ahead and what it feels like to go back into the water. Reich’s own brother Nick Reich, who survived a shark bite in the Bahamas 25 years ago, was among them.
Ocean photographer bit by shark encourages people not to fear them
Jeffrey Joel, an ocean photographer and retired Palm Beach County Fire Rescue firefighter, endured a shark bite in Jupiter on July 19. Joel’s experience was a little different, though.
He approached the 5-foot shark first.
While diving with friends in the Jupiter Inlet 4 miles away from shore, he noticed the lemon shark caught in a fish stringer about 20 feet deep into the ocean. As he tried releasing the shark, another diver bumped into it, and the shark bit Joel’s right forearm.
“(The shark) got spooked,” said Joel, 69, who lives in Hobe Sound. “(It) freaked out. It was a freak accident.”
Joel didn’t feel any pain at the time and successfully set the shark free. His friends didn’t realize he was bit until they saw the blood accumulating around him. They took him to shore, called for help and paramedics took him to St. Mary’s.
There, doctors cleaned out the wound and stitched it up. Joel was able to leave the hospital after two days and will have his stitches removed in two weeks while he waits to heal before returning to the water.
“I take a lot of photos (of sharks) to show people that they’re not like Hollywood portrays them to be,” Joel said. “People shouldn’t be afraid of sharks. I’ve been diving all over the world and never had an issue.”
Joel said that the Shark Week program on Discovery Channel, which started July 20 and runs until July 26, “goes overboard,” making sharks appear vicious.
Doctor: Shark attacks in Palm Beach County are rising
Bert Krebs of Hobe Sound survived a shark attack in February 2023. At Wednesday’s reunion, he said his life is “pretty much” back to normal, except he has occasional numbness in the foot. He is surfing again as much as he can. While he does consider the possible dangers of being in the ocean more than he did before, he tries not to dwell on it.
Florida leads the world in shark bites, according to a report by the University of Florida’s International Shark Attack File. The report logged 83 shark bites in Palm Beach County since 1882 and found that 15% of bites in Florida are from blacktip sharks.
Palm Beach County has the third-most shark bites since 1882 out of all other Florida counties. The greatest concentrations are in Volusia County, home to Daytona Beach, which some call the “shark bite capital of the world.”
Borrego said the number of shark attacks in Palm Beach County is rising.
“The reason why people survive is because the shark doesn’t really want to eat you,” Borrego said. “They bite you, they realize you are not a tuna or a bonita, and then they let you go. You don’t have to be afraid of sharks. You have to respect sharks.”
Maya Washburn covers northern Palm Beach County for The Palm Beach Post, part of the USA TODAY Florida-Network. Reach her at mwashburn@pbpost.com. Support local journalism: Subscribe today.
This article originally appeared on Palm Beach Post: ‘I’m lucky’: West Palm man recounts 10-second shark attack in Bahamas that tore into his arm
Reporting by Maya Washburn, Palm Beach Post / Palm Beach Post
USA TODAY Network via Reuters Connect
