Surfer survives 'gnarly' shark attack as predator had a whole foot in its mouth

WARNING GRAPHIC IMAGES: Charley Hajek, 62, has told how he and the shark "both freaked out" when he stood on the shark while surfing in Florida and the predator "clamped down on his ankle and foot"

A surfer who survived a shark attack has told how he was back in the sea just five days later and "chasing a hurricane".

Charley Hajek, 62, says seeing 11 sharks since his foot was chomped hasn't scared him off his surfboard, and he wasn't even put off by Hurricane Milton as he headed to the water off New Smyrna Beach, Florida.

Known now as 'Gnarly Charley', he said: "The sun was out and the waves were fired and I did what I wanted to do." But disaster very nearly struck when he was coming in from the ocean on his 148th straight day of surfing, on September 22. “There was a lot more foam on top of the water, so I couldn’t see the bottom," he said.

"I stepped off my board, and I landed right on a shark. As soon as I stepped on it, we both freaked out. I felt this intense pressure just clamp down on my ankle and foot, and I knew it was a shark. My whole foot was in its mouth for maybe a second, and then it let me go. It didn’t thrash or wiggle, just bit and let go. Like a warning: don’t mess with me."

He paddled back to shore and, at first, didn’t see any blood. “But as soon as I got to the beach and took that first step, the blood started squirting out. That’s when I knew it was bad," he said. "I wrapped my surfboard leash around my leg as a tourniquet and drove myself to the hospital.”

After 10 stitches, Charley was back on his feet. And instead of taking a break from the water, he was right back at it on September 27 - and from October 11 to 13 amid the storm surge. “I barely had my stitches out, and I’m chasing a hurricane," he said. "How crazy is that? Makes for a good story.”

Hurricane Milton wreaked havoc on New Smyrna Beach, but he wasn’t one to sit out the storm. "I brought in all my pallet room furniture, basically just battened down the hatches around the house and grabbed my dogs and hauled ass to South Florida to catch the perfect waves," he said.

“When I got there, the most terrifying thing I saw was some tornadoes. I saw tornadoes spawn right behind the house I was staying at in Jensen Beach, coconuts falling from the trees onto the roof. It was kind of scary, man. These huge funnels, water in the air, just touching down everywhere. It was pretty heavy. When the storm passed, the waves were firing.”

Reflecting on surviving a shark attack and a major hurricane — surfing through - he said: “Emotionally, I had to put the shark attack behind me. I love chasing storms. Wherever the storm goes, I go. So I just put that whole shark thing out of my mind and focused on surfing Hurricane Milton.”

Despite seeing multiple sharks in the water since the attack, he remains unafraid. “Since I’ve been back in the water, I’ve seen 11 sharks. I was never afraid and I never will be because sharks are more scared of us than we are of them. But step on one, and it’s going to bite you, no question," he said.

He also shared a warning about where the sharks are most active. “If you surf by the jetty inside, that's the shark pit, which is even nastier. There's way more sharks there," he said. "Sharks are pretty harmless. But again, I stepped on it, so I got bit. But when you go in the shark pit, that's way gnarly." His approach to life, whether it’s facing a shark or a hurricane, is simple: “You just have to respect the ocean, respect sharks, and respect hurricanes. Be prepared, not scared.”