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The only thing scarier than getting attacked by a shark … is getting attacked by three sharks.
That’s exactly what happened to Florida spearfisherman Matthew Piendak, who found himself surrounded by a trio of aggressive predators during a recent dive off the coast of Destin.
Lucky for him, he escaped. And lucky for us, he captured the whole terrifying encounter on camera.
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Piendak was completing a safety stop — a brief pause during a diver’s ascent that allows excess nitrogen to leave the body and reduces the risk of decompression sickness — when the sharks began closing in.
POV footage shows the animals repeatedly swimming directly toward him as Piendak uses his speargun to push them away and keep their mouths at a safe distance.
Well, as safe as one can possibly be while fighting off three sharks underwater.
Eventually, a nearby boat reached Piendak and pulled him from the Gulf before any of the sharks managed to bite him. He escaped the encounter without injury.
Piendak is certainly no stranger to what lurks beneath the surface. His Instagram page is filled with footage from dives, encounters with marine wildlife and the enormous fish he regularly brings back to shore. Dolphins, manta rays, sea turtles and massive schools of fish all make appearances.
So do plenty of sharks.
That comes with the territory when you spend a significant portion of your free time swimming around the Gulf carrying dead and wounded fish. But even an experienced diver probably does not expect to fend off three sets of teeth at the same time.
Sharks do not typically view humans as prey, but, as wildlife biologist Forrest Galante explained to OutKick Outdoors, a curious or agitated shark can still do plenty of damage with an exploratory bite.
“They don’t have hands,” Galante said. “They can’t feel it, so that investigative bite can be very, very damaging and, in some cases, fatal. So when they’re trying to figure out if something is or isn’t food, that can be a problem. Most of the time, we’re not even on the menu. They’re just trying to figure out if we are.”
Fortunately, Piendak never gave these three the opportunity for a nibble.
He stayed composed, kept his speargun between himself and the sharks and held them off long enough for help to arrive.
That is an impressive display of calm under pressure from a man who is clearly comfortable in the water.
I, on the other hand, will continue enjoying sharks from the safety of dry land.
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