When Jay Weiskopf and his family arrived at their Miami hotel March 21, they decided to take a quick dip in the ocean while waiting for their room to be ready.
Around 11 a.m. the Minnesota boy was holding his mother Kristine’s hand as they waded near Second Street off South Beach.
“We were in water up to my knees as the tide receded,” Kristine told Tracking Sharks.
A large wave came and the two “kind of body surfed” in the wave as Jay went under the water.
When they stood up, Jay said “ow” and Kristine looked to see a large gaping wound on her son’s right shoulder. She also saw a shark, which she described as about 4-foot long and grey.
She grabbed Jay and quickly ran up the beach. Two off duty nurses sprung into action and applied pressure to the wound. Authorities were alerted and paramedics arrived quickly and he was taken to Jackson Memorial Hospital.
He received more than 120 stitches to close the large shoulder wound, as well as multiple doses of antibiotics before he was released.
Initially Jay, who is Autistic, was concerned about the ocean and kept saying “no beach, and no ocean.”
However, after his release, the red carpet was rolled out for him at the Miami Seaquarium, a 38-acre oceanarium on Virginia Key in Biscayne Bay..
Jay experienced a dolphin encounter and viewed other sea life up-close, and has since started asking about taking surfing lessons.
Doctors said Jay should heal up nicely.
“He is a brave, strong boy, and he’s already running around like nothing even happened,” she said. “The Seaquarium experience was so amazing and important to his mental health.
Thankfully, before they left the beach, Jay was able to dip his toes into the ocean.
A GoFundMe has been setup to help with expenses incurred.
Earlier that week, an Auburn University student visiting the area also was bitten by a shark.
Brice Albert, 20,was vacationing with friends March 18 in Juno Beach, when he encountered a shark while swimming on the south side of the Juno Beach Pier. As the group floated in the water, Albert was pushed toward the pier when he felt a hit, thinking one of his friends had kicked his right arm.
After seeing his nearest friend was about 15 feet away, he looked at his arm and realized he had been bitten by an estimated 6-foot long shark.
A friend took him to the hospital where doctors initial thought his arm would need to be amputated. Thankfully, he was able to keep his arm and is on the road to recovery.
Based on the wound patterns, both Jay and Brice appear to have been bitten by blacktip sharks. The sharks are known to migrate this time of year and are common in Florida waters.
Both locations have been marked on the 2021 Shark Attack Map.
