In 2019, Katarina Zarutskie was a 19-year-old nursing student and aspiring model. While vacationing in the Bahamas with her boyfriend and his family, Katarina decided to pose for some photos with a group of sharks. She thought the daring plunge would make for some incredible Instagram shots for her 10,000 followers.
Her boyfriend's family begged her not to do the photo shoot, but Katarina says her surfing and scuba diving background prepared her for the big moment. So she jumped into the waters of Staniel Cay Island, a place where nurse sharks swim freely. Though these sharks are typically docile and mild-mannered, a sign placed by the water warns people that they can indeed bite.
According to Wikipedia, "Nurse sharks are opportunistic predators that feed primarily on small fish and some invertebrates. They are typically solitary nocturnal animals, rifling through bottom sediments in search of food at night, but often gregarious during the day forming large sedentary groups. Nurse sharks are obligate suction feeders capable of generating suction forces that are among the highest recorded for any aquatic vertebrate to date."
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Everything was going smoothly for Katarina at first, but just as her boyfriend's father snapped another photo, a 5-foot nurse shark swam up to the surface, bit her on the left arm, and dragged her underwater. For eight terrifying seconds, she thrashed under the surface.
In the video below, Katarina describes what happened next. And if you can believe it, she said she'd go swimming with the sharks again!
