What began as a routine free-diving trip off Florida's coast ended with a bull shark bite for a veteran spear fisherman-just minutes after reassuring his visiting family not to worry about the famed predators.
Chance Armand, 28, who started spearfishing in 2020, took up free diving this year and said that even though sharks are a normal occurrence, "nothing crazy" usually happens.
"You run into them, you catch a glimpse of each other, and they might try and punk you for your fish, but they don't actually do anything about it," Armand told Fox News Digital.
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The Milton local said his perspective changed during an Aug. 2 trip when one of the ocean hunters sank its teeth into his leg, sending him to the emergency room.
On the day of the attack, Armand was taking his family, visiting from Oklahoma, out on the water for their first ocean experience.
"I was talking to them about getting in the water with me and maybe shooting fish," Armand said. "They were all concerned about sharks, and I'm sitting there blowing them off like, 'Oh, don't worry about it. Sharks won't do anything to you.'"
The group spotted a few sharks while fishing, but Armand said he didn't think anything of it.
"I decided to take a dive for myself, since everybody else had shot a fish by this point, and took a dive to 65 feet. I hung there for a little bit, waiting for the fish to get used to my presence," he said. "A good-sized yellow jack swam past me, I shot him at 65 feet, and started pulling it in to secure the fish-keep it from struggling in the water column and attracting sharks."
At about 55 feet, Armand looked down to see a bull shark "flying up from the bottom."
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He said Florida sharks often associate boats and the sound of a spear gun going off with an easy meal, prompting their quick response.
"He came flying up trying to get the fish before some other shark did, went full send, and connected with me on accident while he was trying to get the fish," Armand said. "As soon as he bit my leg and realized it wasn't the fish, he let go and didn't chew on me or anything, thankfully. It could have been way worse if he decided to gnaw on me for a little bit."
The toothy opportunist took the fish and swam back down to the bottom of the ocean, leaving Armand without a fish and a little bit less skin.
After resurfacing and letting the others know what had happened, the group climbed back into the boat and hoisted Armand inside. Using a spear gun band, a fillet knife and a T-shirt, they created a makeshift tourniquet to stop the bleeding.
Armand posted photos capturing the once-in-a-lifetime experience to Facebook, showing him smiling while holding the tourniquet on the ride back to shore.
When asked how it was possible to keep a positive attitude amid the shock and pain of what had just happened, Armand said he controls what he can and "gives God the rest."
"When I got on the boat, obviously it was serious. We needed to get the bleeding to stop," he said. "Once we got that tourniquet on and saw that the bleeding stopped, it was kind of a breath of relief. From there on, it was just a boat ride on the ocean, taking a ride back to the dock and just hanging out talking to my cousins from Oklahoma."
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Once back on land, emergency responders took him to the hospital where he underwent anesthesia to clean and inspect the wound. After a considerable number of stitches, he was able to return home.
"It was a blessing," Armand said. "Thankfully, somehow all the teeth danced around all the important stuff-no ligaments, arteries or bones were hit, so no structural damage. They were able to stitch it back together, and I was walking on it the next day."
Armand said he posted the now-viral photos on social media in hopes of another diver spotting his missing spear gun, which fell overboard during the scurry to safety.
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"It just blew up from there," he said. "I'm just kind of taking the opportunity with the attention to bring light to the abundance of sharks we have in the Florida waters. I'd love to see the culture change on sharks in Florida. If you harvest a shark, and you take care of the meat properly, it's great table fare.
"We have a lot of sharks in the water, so it's not like we're in danger of hurting the population at all, especially when it comes to bull sharks. They're a dime a dozen out there, we see them every single time we go out. I'd love to see people look at them as more of a renewable resource, just like any other fish in the water, that can be responsibly managed and harvested as food."
Undeterred by the attack, Armand said he plans on returning to his ocean hobby once he is fully recovered.
"Hopefully, once the stitches are out, I'll be back in the water for grouper season, starting on Sept. 1," he said. "Just as long as I get the green light from the doctor that I'm not going to catch some gnarly infection or something. … I'm a little too dumb to quit.
"In the future, I'll definitely not just assume that the sharks aren't going to go all the way when it comes to stealing a fish. They have telltale signs when they're in pursuit mode, like fins down, [so I will] just try and pay more attention to body language."
An Escambia County spokesperson told Fox News Digital it received a 911 call about the incident, but Armand was assisted by fire personnel at Naval Air Station Pensacola.
NAS Pensacola did not immediately respond to inquiries from Fox News Digital.
