A South Carolina man was paddleboarding in Flagler Beach when he decided to take a dip in the ocean after watching dolphins in the swells. He would soon learn the dolphins weren’t the only marine life around.
Brian Miller, 44, was 100 or 200 yards out in the ocean around South 17th Street. It was 9 or 9:30 a.m. on April 25. He was in town visiting friends and had borrowed one of their paddleboards.
Miller was about to have an encounter that rarely happens in Flagler County as opposed to Volusia County, where New Smyrna Beach is known as the “Shark Bite Capital of the World.”
In a phone interview, Miller said he had already jumped in the water once and got back up on the paddleboard. He noticed the dolphins, so he paddled toward them to get a closer look but didn’t get too close. He decided to jump in again for another refreshing dip in the water.
Paddleboarder recounts shark bite in Flagler Beach
When he got off the board and into ocean, he decided to dunk his head beneath the waves.
That’s when it happened.
“It was surreal,” Miller said. “It felt like one of your friends was messing with you and just grabbed your foot and gave it a tug.”
But Miller knew he was the only person in the water.
“I knew it was not good,” Miller said. “It was a firm, strong grip on my foot and sharp, metallic.”
It was a shark.
Paddleboarder felt tug by shark in Flagler County waters
“Just a split second, it didn’t pull me under or anything. It was just a grab and tug for just a split second,” Miller said.
He said he didn’t remember if he yanked his foot away.
“I was just in shock. I was up on the paddleboard in no time,” Miller said.
Miller headed for shore. He kneeled on the board as he paddled toward the sand. He looked back at his foot.
“It was pretty bloody, so I had to stick my foot back in the water to see what I was working with,” he said.
He said he was relieved to see that his foot and toes were still all there.
Once he got to the beach, some friends, including chiropractor Adam Lemnouni, immediately sprang into action, taking care of him. Miller said the wound was not bleeding profusely.
“It wasn’t like gushing blood when I was walking,” he said.
Once he got to a friend’s home, they washed off the wound and poured peroxide on the slices of skin. They took a look and knew he needed to get help.
“Really, like shocking, when I saw the damage on my foot,” Miller said. “I was grateful that I had my foot and all my toes.”
Miller said he started to feel the injury.
Man said he never saw shark that bit him off Flagler Beach
“As the adrenaline kind of wore off it got a little painful,” Miller said. “I thought I was going to pass out and then I threw up.”
Friends drove Miller to AdventHealth Hospital on State Road 100 in Palm Coast.
He needed 22 stiches on one side of his foot and nine on the other.
Miller said he had no idea what kind of shark decided to take a bite out of him.
“No, I never saw it. I never saw it before and didn’t see it after,” he said.
So, of course, he doesn’t know how big it was.
“It was big enough it had kind of my whole foot in its mouth,” he said.
He said it cut his big toe and little toe.
“It came from the bottom, and it got both sides at once,” he said.
Miller said he won’t let the encounter with jaws keep him out of the ocean.
“I’m confident it won’t hold me back,” Miller said. “It might be a little nervy but I’m sure I’ll be able to do it.
He added: I think it was just wrong place wrong time and mistaken identify and hopefully lightning won’t strike twice.”
How can swimmers avoid sharks in Flagler Beach?
While shark bites are rare in Flagler Beach, Gavin Naylor, director of the Florida Program for Shark Research with the Florida Museum of Natural History, offered the following tips to avoid sharks while enjoying Florida’s beaches:
— Staff writer Brenno Carillo contributed to this story.
This article originally appeared on The Daytona Beach News-Journal: Paddleboarder said sharp tug was shark. How to stay safe at the beach
Reporting by Frank Fernandez, Daytona Beach News-Journal / The Daytona Beach News-Journal
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