Peter Smith and his wife were on holiday in the Caribbean when a beautiful swim suddenly changed.
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"The conditions were perfect for a swim," the retired IT director recalls. "I dived into the waves, swam out no more than 20 feet (6m), and stood waist-deep in the water."
He and his wife Joanna, from Hertfordshire, were away with friends, and the last thing on their minds was the risk of shark attacks - they are unheard of on this tiny Caribbean island.
"Suddenly I felt a very heavy object hit my leg. I look down and there's a shark - and it's big," Peter says.
"You're talking maybe 10 foot (3m). That's when your brain works at 1,000 miles an hour."
He had been bitten by a bull shark, one of the most dangerous sharks in the world and notorious for hunting in shallow waters.
In his first interview since the attack in April 2024, Peter tells BBC News about his terrifying experience - and why he's still not scared of sharks.
The 66-year-old says he instantly recognised the jaws clenching onto his leg as those of a bull shark. Fearing he would be dragged underwater, he decided to put up a fight.
"I start punching the shark. To be honest I don't know what I was trying to do, but I was hitting it," Peter says. "I can honestly say I've never hit anything as hard as I hit that shark.
"After hitting my leg, it managed to attack my left arm and then my stomach. The situation got serious really fast. I lost a lot of blood."
Finally, the animal stopped its attack long enough for Peter to be dragged from the water by people nearby.
His friends John and Moira, who were beside him in the sea, each helped fight the shark and raise the alarm. Back on the beach, Joanna, alerted by Moira's screams, ran to the shoreline.
"I remember going into the water and seeing his terrible injuries. I could see bones, it was just awful," Joanna recalls. "And somebody said, 'Get her away from here.'"
Peter was taken to
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