Surfer Attacked By Shark Bitten Twice In 1 Year

A Florida surfer was bitten by a shark while surfing over the weekend – for the second time in less than a year. Bryan Brock was in waist deep water Sunday in Ponce Inlet, near Daytona Beach, when the shark snuck up on him.

“All of a sudden, like, my foot started shaking,” Brock told WOFL-TV. “And it literally felt like a bulldozer came in and was gnawing at it.”

Read: Watch Video Of Man Attacked By Shark While Spearfishing In Florida

Brock, 19, was able to get out of the water and to the hospital with the assistance of another surfer who was nearby. It was unclear what kind of shark it was that bit him.

“It had to take about 50 stitches to make it all good,” he said.

And while one shark attack is frightening enough, Sunday’s incident was actually the second time Brock had been attacked by a shark in less than a year. The first bite came last fall when he was surfing at New Smyrna Beach.

“When I was getting back up on my board is when it happened,” Brock said. “After the wave, it pushed me off my board and it was trying to basically get its jaw onto it.”

“I am very unlucky that I’ve been bit two times -- it’s insane,” he said. “People are like, ‘You should play the lottery.’”

And while Brock admits he’s had a bit of bad luck in the water, he said it wouldn’t deter him from getting back in the open ocean once his foot finishes healing.

“I’m not really scared of sharks,” he said. “I mean, second bite and I’m used to it, feels like. As weird as that sounds, it would be weird for me to stop surfing.”

While shark bites themselves are relatively rare, the animals are common in the waters surrounding Florida. Unprovoked attacks have risen in recent years, especially in the Sunshine State, according to a recent report issued by the Florida Museum of Natural History’s Program for Shark Research. The state had the most unprovoked attacks of any place in the country, at 51 percent of the total unprovoked attacks. Florida also accounted for 30.6 of unprovoked shark attacks around the world.

“The higher number of encounters in these… counties is attributable to high aquatic recreational utilization of the area’s long and attractive beaches and waters by both Florida residents and tourists, including large numbers of surfers, and to the rich nature of its marine fauna,” the report said.

George Burgess, the report’s coordinator, also noted the number of attacks has grown slightly thanks to an increase in the number of people in the water.

Read: Shark Attacks Mom Of 3 While Snorkeling In Bahamas

Last week, a man spearfishing off the coast of Key West was attacked by an eight-foot shark. Parker Simpson, 23, was swimming in about 50 feet of water when what he thinks was a reef shark appeared seemingly out of nowhere. The shark took a chunk of Simpson’s left leg that required a trip to the hospital and 50 stitches.

But Simpson, like Brock, said he won’t be deterred from the water.

“[Sharks] are a superior hunter,” he said, according to the Sun-Sentinel. “I still love them.”