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A fishing influencer says he is lucky to still have his leg after capturing the terrifying moment a shark attacked him during a dive and sank its teeth into him.
New Zealand content creator Henry Gibbs was spearfishing in Fiji on July 18 when a grey reef shark charged at him and bit the back of his right calf.
Footage from the attack shows Gibbs attempting to fend off the shark with his speargun before the animal pulls him beneath the water.
“It sidesteps the speargun, peels underneath me, latches onto the back of my calf and starts death rolling,” Gibbs explained.
Fellow divers Colby and Dan pulled Gibbs from the water, treated his wound and helped get him to a hospital. The influencer required four surgeries and a skin graft but is expected to retain full use of his foot.
“Feeling incredibly lucky to still have my leg, full use of my foot and to be on the mend,” he wrote from the hospital. “Four surgeries and a skin graft later it’s looking like I’ll make a full recovery, which I’m hugely grateful for.”
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Influencer says “no hard feelings” after almost losing leg in shark attack
Gibbs said the group had spent up to two hours diving around the reef before moving into clearer water in pursuit of larger fish.
Several grey reef sharks were nearby, but one continued to linger and became increasingly agitated. Gibbs believes the boat, spearguns and activity in the water may have caught its attention.
“Eventually it started making tight semicircles beneath us, became increasingly agitated and even sprinted at the boat,” he said. “Looking back, that should’ve been enough of a sign to call the dive.”
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Gibbs admitted that he underestimated the shark because of its size and expected it to behave like the sharks he had previously encountered in New Zealand.
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“I never thought a shark of that size posed much of a threat, and that was a mistake,” he added.
The creator urged divers to end a dive if a shark’s behavior changes and warned against judging the potential danger by its size. He also recommended wearing plain black wetsuits in tropical waters instead of camouflage.
Despite his injuries, Gibbs said he has “no hard feelings” toward the shark because he was hunting its food in its natural environment.
He is still deciding whether to release the rest of the footage due to its graphic nature, but plans to share more advice about trauma equipment and responding to serious diving injuries.
The incident comes nearly one year after scientists suggested that social media influencers have played a role in the rise of shark attacks, with creators wanting to get close for content opportunities.
