UPDATE: Shark Attack Victim Talks About Harrowing Encounter with Great White
SAN MATEO COUNTY (CBS SF) -- The man who survived a bite from a great white shark over the weekend in San Mateo County spoke with KPIX 5 about his harrowing encounter Tuesday.
The attack happened Saturday morning at Gray Whale Cove State Beach north of Half Moon Bay.
38-year-old San Francisco resident Nemenja Spasojevic said the attack was so quick it was over before he even knew what was happening.
What was supposed to be a day of snorkeling and crabbing for Spasojevic took a terrifying turn when he felt something on the back of his right leg.
"Very quick, like an, almost like a mosquito bite; kind of like a sharp pain and a little bit of a push," said Spasojevic, describing the initial contact.
At first, he didn't know what it was. Then he came face to face with the great white and realized it had bitten his leg.
At that point, he says he got to the beach as fast as he could, realizing his wetsuit was filling up with blood.
Limping and bleeding, Spasojevic called out to a fisherman for help.
"So I yell at the fisherman, 'Hey! Shark attack! Shark attack!' So it took us some time to get his attention," said Spasojevic. "But then once he saw me, I was like, I just kind of drop on the sand."
Scary, but as it turned out, his injuries were not too serious.
Marilou Seiff, the Executive Director of the Marine Science Institute says the shark may have mistaken him for a marine mammal.
"We are not something that they seek out, but there are more sharks in the area and they are slightly increasing in numbers," said Seiff.
Spasojevic said he was grateful the shark let go so quickly.
"The shark itself, like, I don't know; it didn't feel like menacing or threatening. Because even the bite were just like a nip and it let go. So I never felt like a threat."
The San Mateo County Sheriff's office estimated the shark was 6 to 8 feet long. The attack led to the weekend closure of Gray Whale Cove State Beach.