John Schweizer, 69, returned home to Niantic, Connecticut, where neighbors welcomed him back wearing shark costumes
after his harrowing anniversary trip.
Niantic Museum Board member John Schweizer was snorkeling with Caribbean reef sharks off the country’s coast in the western Bahamas with his family last Friday, July 24, when he was quickly pulled underwater.
John Schweizer, 69, was swimming with Caribbean reef sharks when one of them suddenly pulled him underwater and bit his left shin.
He was treated by an emergency doctor aboard the cruise ship where he was vacationing with his wife, Marcy, and their two sons.
What was supposed to be a highlight became a horror.
Schweizer said the snorkeling excursion was supposed to be the highlight of the anniversary trip. “Beautiful diving. Beautiful clear water and we dove with the sharks,” he said.
His son spotted a large shadow, estimated to be between 5 and 7 feet long, swimming toward him.
The moment changed everything.
“It was so fast, so immediate that you knew it happened. No doubt about it,” he said.
He called for help and was quickly pulled back onto the boat with a severe leg injury. “We used many, many towels and torniquets to hold and keep the blood at bay,” he said.
His son, Tom, who was snorkeling alongside him, reportedly spotted the shark before his father did and screamed for help after seeing him get bitten.
The ship had an emergency room doctor on there and put in 26 stitches and four in my hand.”
He received stitches on board before being transported to a hospital in Miami, Florida, where he was treated and released the following day.
Within a day, Schweizer was back home.
When Schweizer returned home to Niantic, his neighbors welcomed him back with a “fin-tastic” homecoming wearing shark costumes.
“That’s my neighborhood, and they’re wonderful people,” he said.
But the experience left him shaken about future ocean encounters.
As for whether he would ever swim with sharks again, Schweizer’s answer was clear. “No. No. Not at all and I won’t do it again,” he said.
The Niantic resident is no stranger to sharks despite this brush with danger.
Schweizer is an avid fisherman and said this was not his first encounter with sharks. He said he frequently sees sand tiger sharks in Long Island Sound.
“You catch them, and you don’t want to go near them. They don’t bite, but there’s a lot of sharks that are being caught by Millstone [Nuclear Power Plant] and they’re here.”
In the viral moment that sparked widespread interest in the incident, the neighbors’ decision to dress in shark costumes for his homecoming turned what could have been a traumatic return into a moment of community humor and warmth. Schweizer, a board member at the Niantic Museum, was vacationing with his wife and their two adult sons on an adventure cruise in the western Bahamas when the Caribbean reef shark attacked him shortly after he entered the water on July 24. His son Tom was snorkeling beside him and spotted the large predator before it struck. Crew members aboard the cruise ship rushed to stanch the bleeding with multiple towels and tourniquets, applying emergency first aid until the ship’s medical team could take over. After receiving initial treatment aboard the vessel, Schweizer was transferred to Miami for hospitalization, though he was well enough to be discharged after just one day of care. Caribbean reef shark attacks are exceptionally rare—the Florida Museum of Natural History has documented only four confirmed cases dating back to the 1500s—making Schweizer’s experience a statistically anomalous event during what was meant to celebrate four decades of marriage.
Schweizer remains hopeful about his recovery despite the trauma. His quick medical response and strong constitution enabled him to walk off the cruise ship and eventually return to his Connecticut home, where the creative homecoming from his neighbors provided unexpected comic relief. Though he vows never to return to shark-diving excursions, the Niantic community’s show of solidarity suggests the broader incident has only strengthened his ties to his neighborhood.