A trip to Belize almost left a snorkeling vacationer with a missing finger when a filmed shark experience went awry.
Chad Barker, 57, and his wife, frequent vacationers to the Caribbean nation, decided to visit local wildlife through a nurse shark encounter.
The group headed about a mile off Ambergris Key May 12 and anchored in about 10 feet of water. Members of the crew threw bait into the water to resident nurse sharks who have become accustomed to visitors.
After several sharks gathered at the aft of the boat, Baker was given a sign and slipped down in the water around 10 a.m. making sure not to splash.
“I got in the water and put my mask on, and they were on me,” he told Tracking Sharks.
Nurse sharks are considered docile but will bite when provoked and have been known to nip fingers and occasionally hands.
As soon as the Decatur, Illinois man collected his bearings in the water, the current pushed him toward the end of the boat and into the approaching sharks.
“I wasn’t in the water 30 seconds and two large 8-footers were on me,” he said.
One shark came from the left and another from the right.
“One bit the left side of my right hand while the other grabbed the right side. The left shark let go, but the right did not, I had to yank my hand from its mouth.”
Nurse sharks use suction to pull prey into their mouth, and have tiny teeth pointed back toward their throat to secure prey. While the teeth are small, they can cause serious damage.
Barker quickly exited the water and was given first aid on the boat. The crew was ready to head in, but Barker did not want to ruin the trip for anyone and volunteered to stay.
About 20 minutes later, they started the 40-minute boat ride back to the dock.
“They were waiting for me and took me to the doctor right away,” he said.
Unfortunately, the only available doctor was an OB-GYN. The doctor sutured the wound but Barker, who still had a few days left in his trip, was not ready to head home yet.
The $200 stitch job was not the greatest, but with a little alcohol, Barker was able to push through the pain and left the Caribbean nation as scheduled.
Once back in the states he headed to the hospital where doctors scheduled a procedure to remove his stitches and clean infection.
Thankfully, Baker didn’t lose his finger, and he’s expected to heal well.
The event will not keep him out of the water, either. “It was my fault. I was in their environment, they were just doing what sharks do,” he said. Which is good, since he and his wife plan to retire the tropical paradise.
The approximate location has been marked on the 2021 Shark Attack Map.
