His 40th Wedding Anniversary Ended With a Shark Bite

Marking 40 years of marriage wasn't supposed to involve a shark bite, but that's how things unfolded for a Connecticut man in the Bahamas. John Schweizer of Niantic, a 69-year-old retired financial adviser, was snorkeling with Caribbean reef sharks with his family on July 24 when, moments after entering the water, one of the animals clamped onto his leg, per NBC Connecticut and the Stamford Advocate. His son spotted a large shadow moving in, and Schweizer was rushed back onto the boat with a serious leg wound.

"It was like a huge dog bite, very quick," he says, per WTNH, adding, per the Advocate: "It pulled me under for a second." Family members used towels and makeshift tourniquets until he was able to be transported to a cruise ship, where an ER doctor stitched his injuries—26 stitches to his leg and four to his hand, per NBC. Flown to a Miami hospital, Schweizer was home in Niantic a day after his Florida stay, greeted by neighbors in shark costumes. An experienced fisherman, he says he's done swimming with sharks for good.