Updated Jan. 28.
A snorkeler in Hawaii and a man swimming in Lake Macquarie, New South Wales are recovering after being bitten by sharks.
Jerry Weisbecker,73, was snorkeling alone off Airport Beach around 100 to 200 yards from the shore in front of the Maui Westin at Kaanapali Jan. 22.
Around 7:45 a.m. he felt something smash into him. The retired broker looked to see a tiger shark and gave it a kick. The shark came back for a second go, but the New York Native fought back.
Despite begin bitten on the calf by the estimated eight-foot-long shark. He was able to swim roughly 40 yards back to shore where he called 911.
He was taken to Maui Memorial Medical Center.where he received with stitches and antibiotics.
The event isn’t going to keep Weisbercker, who has been diving since the 80s, from the water and he was back in a few days later wearing a protective cast over his wound.
Earlier this month another snorkeler was shark bitten in Hawaii
A 68-year-old woman was out for her morning swim Jan. 2 when she was bitten by a shark.
Around 8 a.m. the unidentified woman was swimming 150 to 200 yards from shore in Anaeho’omalu Bay when a shark grabbed her lower right foot.
Marc Romano, 26, heard the woman screaming and dove into the water and swam toward the injured woman. Romano is a former Stoughton High School swim team captain.
“I was 50 yards out from the victim,” he told Tracking Sharks. He said he realized it had to be a shark when he saw blood in the water. “I’m just not sure what kind . . . assuming it was tiger since one was seen in that bay the previous week,” he added.
Romano pulled the woman to safety and his coworker dialed 911.
He said the victim stayed calm and requested he collect her mask and fins from the beach. She was taken to the hospital for treatment and Romano was praised for helping save her life.
Swimmer bitten in Australia
In new South Wales at Lake Macquarie, Rick Burbury, 58, was bitten by a shark Jan. 23. He was swimming with his wife at Yarrawonga Park around 6:30 p.m. when a shark bit his left arm at the elbow.
His doctor wife and and off-duty lifeguard Matthew Lumbys helped him back to shore where both provided first aid. Several ambulances were dispatched along with a rescue helicopter.
Burbury was transported to John Hunter Hospital, where his arm was amputated.
Witnesses described the shark as 2 meters (6.5 ft.).
All locations have been marked on the 2021 Shark Attack map.
