DELMAR, De. - 16-year-old Andrew Vance of Delmar unwrapped the bandages on his arm to show the damage done by a shark at Cape Henlopen State Park. Puncture wounds can be found from his forearm to just below his thumb.
Fortunately for the teenager, the shark was not clamped down on his arm for too long.
"My first instinct was just punch it. So, I punched it in his head and he didn't let go, so I stuck my thumb in to try and pull his mouth apart and he let go. That's how I shredded up my right thumb."
And Andrews Vance added that the image of a shark biting his left arm is something he will never be able to erase from his mind.
"His head was grayish or brown and all I saw were his teeth. I saw his teeth in my arm. And I stuck my hand in there. And then when he let go, when he swam away, the scariest part was I thought he was going to come back and bite me again. So I was kicking my legs and screaming and splashing, trying to get him away," Vance said.
The Delaware Department of Natural Resources and Environmental Control shut down the beach to swimmers while the agency searched for sharks in the water on Tuesday, but nothing was found. A marine biologist concluded the shark was most likely a juvenile three-foot sand bar shark that bumped into Vance before biting his arm. DNREC said that bite should be considered an isolated incident, but Andrew was the focus of that incident, so getting back in the water may take some time.
"I'm sure, sooner or later, I will go back in the water, but not anytime soon. Yeah, not any time soon," Vance said.
And really, who can blame him?
