Influencer’s Shark Bite Story Goes Viral with “Cute Scars”
Most people would avoid a group of 50 sharks hunting in the ocean, but travel influencer Ms. Tagliari made a bold move by diving into their midst off the coast of the Maldives. For years, she has swum alongside sharks in the Indian Ocean, home to 30 species, without incident. However, this time, things took an unexpected turn.
While gently treading water with flippers on, Ms. Tagliari was shocked when a shark, gliding past her, suddenly flicked its head and bit her leg. Despite the muffle of water, her scream could be heard as the shark tugged her down. Fortunately, the shark released her moments later, seemingly having had its fill, reported by Metro.co.uk.
Sharing the footage on Instagram, Ms. Tagliari remained remarkably calm, calling the experience “just a weird little accident that left me with some cute scars.” She explained, “We had been with them for a good hour, then I decided to go back to our boat. Then the conditions got better, and I thought ‘oh, a few more dives won’t hurt.’ As I came back up, this shark decided to take a nibble. I thought, ‘just my luck,’ because it happens so rarely.”
Although rare, shark bites do occur in the Maldives, particularly with species like the tiger shark or the up-to-14ft-long nurse shark. Despite the risk, the Maldives’ crystal-clear waters are a hotspot for tourists seeking shark encounters, with many paying guides to swim alongside them.
Ms. Tagliari survived the encounter with little more than a semi-circle of teeth marks on her leg, which was already adorned with tattoos. She took antibiotics to prevent infection but said, “I got a sore leg for a few days.” However, as she proudly stated on Instagram, “YES, I go swimming in the middle of sharks. YES, I like to take photos with sharks. YES, I know I’m in their home. So, I am not complaining.”
Her calm and resilient attitude toward the shark bite earned her comparisons to other remarkable shark bite survivors, including 62-year-old Charley Hajek, who was back surfing five days after a shark bite, and 61-year-old Kenji, who survived a leg loss in Maui. But Ms. Tagliari has her own way of handling it—she plans to commemorate her shark encounter with a tattoo of “some little teeth marks.”