A Decatur man’s vacation turned into a story few can tell, and he is lucky to be alive to share it, writes wandtv.com.

“It all happened so fast. It was just bam. I was in the water 30 seconds when it happened”, - Chad Barker said reliving the trip to Belize.

Seeking a thrill, Barker and his wife decided to jump into the water off the Ambergris Key to snorkel with some nurse sharks. Like every good vacation, things never go as planned.

“The current swept me right into the middle of the feeding frenzy. Two eight footers got a hold of my hand”, - Barker said.

From the time Barker got in and out of the water was less than a minute, he said. The two sharks left him with some deep wounds on his hand that required stitches but there was no emergency room nearby, so Barker was taken to the OBGYN for medical attention.

“When I pulled my hand out of its mouth, I was almost afraid to look at my hand”, - he said.

What happened to Barker is rare. Worldwide there were only 84 shark attacks last year and only 6% of the attacks involved snorkelers.