Raphael AbuchaibeBBC News World
Mauricio Hoyos still remembers the pressure the jaws of a female Galapagos shark, more than three meters long, exerted on his skull.
The animal lunged at him with incredible speed, barely giving him time to lower its head in a final effort to save its jugular.
“When I closed my jaw I felt a pressure like a bite, and then after a while it opened again and let me go,” Hoyos told BBC Mundo from his home in Baja California, Mexico, just over a month after surviving the incident.
Hoyos, a marine biologist who has studied sharks in their natural habitat for more than 30 years, was attacked by a shark while on a research trip to Costa Rica last September.
Less than two months later and still bearing scars from the attack on his face, he described his recovery as “incredible” and said he even hoped he would be able to see his assailant again.
For Hoyos, what happened to him that day off Cocos Island was a result of normal animal behavior when faced with a perceived threat.
“In this case it was like a dog bite,” he says.
“Have you ever seen dogs quickly bite when another dog gets too close? It doesn’t hurt them, but it calms the other dog down.”
Hoyos, who along with his colleagues attach acoustic tags to sharks to pinpoint mating and spawning grounds, learned from tourists that sharks were in the water.
It was in 40 meters of water and Hoyos told the captain of the boat he was on that he would be there “for up to five minutes”.
He then entered the water and began his slow descent.
Hoyos recalls encountering the shark: “This massive 3-3.5m (11.5ft) female swam towards the bottom and I positioned myself to tag the base of the shark’s dorsal fin.”
But Hoyos, who has tagged many different species of sharks for decades, says this animal reacted differently than others.
“Obviously the tip (a metal tip attached to a cable hanging from the probe) goes in, and she turns around and looks at me, unlike other sharks I’ve tagged that immediately run away,” he recalls.
“I saw her little eyes look at me, and then I saw her turn around very calmly.”
Hoyos said he caught the shark’s gaze as it swam away and then, out of nowhere, the shark lunged at him.
“I put my head down and I felt its lower jaw dig into my cheek and its upper jaw digging into my head. I was there for a moment and it felt like it wasn’t in my jaw anymore. Then it just opened again.”
“When it closed, I felt a pressure like a bite, and then I just let go,” he was surprised.
The Galapagos shark’s 29 serrated teeth not only inflicted deep cuts on Hoyos’ face and head, but also severed the air lines of his diving gear.
Although he survived the shark attack, he was still in mortal danger.
Additionally, one of the teeth tore through his diving mask, and the bloody water further blurred his already limited vision.
“When I realized there was no air coming out of the hose, I grabbed the second hose we have. This hose, called an octopus, is used to provide air to others when needed,” he told BBC Mundo.
“But then I realized the regulator wasn’t working and I was only blowing air instead of controlling it, so I had to remember my training and start controlling it with my lips.”
Bleeding, blinded and deflated, Hoyos calculated he had less than a minute to reach the surface.
“I couldn’t see anything, so what I did was look for a light that I knew was the surface. I started swimming upwards, very harmoniously, because I wanted to avoid any erratic movements that might attract sharks.”
After Hoyos reached the surface, a young man pulled him into a boat, and the captain, seeing his condition, called the park service to report the incident.
Hoyos explained that he did not feel the pain of his injury until much later.
“Obviously I had adrenaline in my body, but the bite didn’t hurt that much. What hurt the most was the shock. When a shark that was 10 feet long and at that speed bit me, it felt like I’d been hit by a car. I actually had huge bruises all over my jaw. I thought it was broken.”
When they docked, a team of paramedics were ready to give him emergency care.
The Hoyos were lucky. Not only did he survive the attack and subsequent climb, his wounds never became infected and the healing process took less time than anyone could have imagined.
“The doctors said it was amazing. The attack happened on September 27, I traveled for 34 hours, performed a surgical debridement (removal of damaged tissue), and two days later we were already assessing whether reconstructive surgery could be performed.”
It could have been much worse for the Hoyos. According to doctors, a young man who survived a Galapagos shark attack in the same area in 2017 had to be locked in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber for almost a month because his wounds did not heal properly.
“They said my recovery had been incredible. After the surgery, the doctors confessed how worried they were about infection because what was in my face was a direct pathway to the brain.”
A beaming Hoyos said he was already planning to get back in the water, adding that he had booked a diving trip for November 14.
And he says surviving an attack of this scale has left him with even greater respect for the animals he studies.
“Many people think the oceans would be better off without sharks, but they say that because they don’t actually understand the important role sharks play in maintaining that delicate balance.”
He points to the large scar on his cheek and says: “This is proof that this woman saved my life. There is no other way to explain it. And it will allow me to continue to say good things about sharks and advocate for their conservation for years to come.”
Meanwhile, the Galapagos shark with Hoyos in its jaws continues its natural life in the deep sea, and he hopes to see it again. And since he was able to mark it before it attacked him, that possibility exists.
“In January, I’m going to Cocos Island. I have a trip from the 20th to the 27th. And of course I’m going to Roca Sucia (where the attack took place). I’m going to dive there,” he said, undeterred.
