Man Bitten By Shark While Spear Fishing Won't Hesitate To Get Back In The Water
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MIAMI (CBSMiami) – Friends of Alvaro Ordonez remember racing him back to shore after a shark bite Saturday afternoon off the coast of Key Biscayne.
It happened while they were spearfishing in an underwater shipwreck.
"He came at me, I grab him by the snout and kind of flipped it, but I couldn't flip it all the way because it was massive," said bite victim Alvaro Ordonez.
Alvaro said the injury happened when he got between the shark and a woman diving with them, to block her from an attack.
"So he went and kicked with the tale and hit with the head again and that's when he kind of, it was more of a sawing, not a bite," said Alvaro.
He knew it was a serious attack and realized it could get even worse.
"I was bleeding massively, it was like a hose, like an open hose," Alvaro explained. "Several sharks came up, I counted 6, Eric counted 4 and they were swimming all over the place coming."
Meanwhile, Alvaro's friend Erick Salgado realized there was trouble when he heard thrashing in the water.
Alvaro is lucky. His friend Erick is an orthopedic surgeon who knew just what to do. He had to get creative to find something to use as a tourniquet.
"I go down to try to try to scare the shark away…and all of a sudden I saw a whole cloud of blood all over the place," said Dr. Salgado. "I grabbed his hand, I used the flashlight with bungee cord about 18 inches, I put it around his forearm, put pressure, make sure he has enough pressure."
Alvaro says despite what happened, his underwater adventures will continue.
"As soon as I'm fine I will continue," he said. "That's my passion and I love it."
