Shark hitches ride on boat

HAULOVER BEACH, Fla., Aug. 10 (UPI) -- A group of Florida boaters spear fishing and lobster diving said they received the shock of their lives when a bull shark jumped up on the deck of their vessel.

Michael Powers said he and his friends were boating on a 21-foot vessel off Haulover Beach, Fla., Saturday when the 5 1/2 foot bull shark jumped onto the vessel, WSVN-TV, Miami, reported Monday.

"One minute it was in the air, the next minute it was in the boat just beating everything in God's creation," Powers said. "It hit one of the crew members. It hit Patricia, then it went between Paul's legs and my legs in the back. We're all scattering for cover trying to get up on the deck and out of anywhere we could, just to be safe."

"We waited for her to calm down after 30 minutes and bleeding all over the deck and busting everything up," he said. "We tail roped her and we tried to lift her out with a pole and a net we used to get the lobster in. The thing probably weighed 100 to 125 pounds, so there was no doing that. We were able to get the rope underneath it, then we went ahead and pulled it up between the live-well here, got it up on the deck, and we man handled it, grabbed it by its fins and threw it in the water."

Powers said the boat sustained minor damage as a result of the shark incursion and none of his passengers were injured.