Water smooth as glass.

Sun shining brightly.

The guys free diving, spearing fish for dinner.

The gals lounging in float chairs.

“It was a perfect day to be on the boat,” Kiera Dunn said of Sept. 24.

“We were talking about how we were going to cook all the fish we had gotten that night, and we were looking forward to going out the next day,” she recalled.

But the group — Dunn, Charles “C.J.” Wickersham, Connor Bystrom, Max Gazzo, Katie Mattas, Oceanna Beard and Lee White — didn’t get back out in the boat for a Sunday on the Gulf of Mexico.

On that seemingly idyllic Saturday afternoon about 6 miles offshore of Anna Maria Island, at about 3 p.m., a bull shark attacked Wickersham as he floated in the water.

In short time, Wickersham’s friends had him in a 25-foot outboard racing toward the Rod & Reel Pier and awaiting first-responders with Manatee County Emergency Medical Services, West Manatee Fire Rescue and Manatee County Sheriff’s Office.

Wickersham, on Sept. 30, went home to Longboat Key from Bayfront Medical Center, where he had been in the trauma center throughout the week.

“His test for infection came back negative so they were able to release him,” Dunn said. “So he is able to spend the rest of his recovery at home. His family is really happy. We are so excited. Everyone, including the doctors, thought he would have to be in a lot longer than he has. We are very lucky.”

Wickersham underwent multiple procedures at the medical center. Including, on Sept. 26, a second surgery, when surgeons closed his wound using 60 packs of sutures — about 800 stitches — and were able to save the muscle in the thigh.

“C.J. has an angel on his shoulder for sure,” said Jeannie Bystrom, mother of Connor Bystrom.

Connor Bystrom, a lifelong friend of Wickersham’s, said, “We’ve been talking about how lucky he is. It was just a freak accident.… It’s not like there is a rabid shark out there. It just happened. It was just a total freak thing.”

Shark attacks are rare in Florida. The International Shark Attack File managed by the ichthyology department at the University of Florida reports 623 confirmed shark attacks, including 11 fatalities, in Florida waters since 1882. The statistics don’t yet reflect the attack on Wickersham or another shark bite on Oct. 2.

The ISAF reports that the highest number of attacks in Florida occurred in the month of September — 93. The lowest number occurred in the month of January — five.

The outing

Wickersham and his friends often go spearfishing — almost every weekend, according to Bystrom.

On Sept. 24, the group of friends had fished and floated and free-dived.

“We had all just gotten out of the water, and we were getting a drink and having a little something to eat,” Dunn said. “We had just finished up, and C.J. was already back in the water along with the two others girls, Katie and Oceanna.”

On the boat, Gazzo, Bystrom and Dunn were readying to return to the water.

Wickersham felt a bump and thought his friends were goofing around. But that thought didn’t last long.

“I actually remember seeing C.J. looking down in the water by the marker we had placed,” Dunn said. “I turned to grab something — I cannot for the life of me remember what — and within a few seconds, C.J. was screaming he had just been bitten by a shark.”

Wickersham said he used two fists to punch the bull shark, which has been described as 9 to 11 feet long.

 

The shark

The bull shark gets its name from its stout appearance and pugnacious reputation, according to UF scientists.

The shark is found in tropical and subtropical waters worldwide, as well as in some rivers and freshwater lakes. In the United States, bull sharks have been reported as far north as Illinois.

In Florida, the bull shark can be found in estuaries, bays, harbors, river mouths, the Atlantic Ocean and the Gulf of Mexico, where it feeds on mullet, tarpon, snook, mackerel, snapper, other schooling fish and the occasional sea turtle, bird, dolphin and seabird.

Experts consider the bull shark one of the more threatening to people because it is large, can be found in shallower depths and freshwater and is more likely to be in proximity to human populations than the white or tiger shark.

The shark that bit Wickersham left a gaping, 14-inch wound in his left thigh.

 

The rescuers

“The water had turned blood red around C.J,” Dunn said.

Bystrom described blood pooled in a 10-foot radius around his friend.

He jumped into the water and pulled Wickersham to the boat as Gazzo started the engine.

“Everyone went into I guess you can say ‘survival’ mode,” said Dunn. “We knew what we had to do without even talking to each other.”

Dunn called 911, reaching operator Amy Todd at the Manatee County Emergency Communications Center.

Dunn told Todd the boat was bound for the Rod & Reel Pier and that they expected to make the trip in about five minutes. She described the boat for the operator, as well as the extent of Wickersham’s injury.

“He’s awake. He is breathing,” Dunn said, adding that a tourniquet was tied around the leg and Wickersham’s friends were hugging the wound to apply pressure.

Is there any bleeding? Todd asked.

“Yes,” Dunn said.

Is he alert? Todd asked, reassuring Dunn that help would be waiting on shore.

“He is alert,” Dunn replied. “We’re giving him some water. He wants some water.”

Todd suggested the application of a dry cloth or towel directly on the wound. “Press down firmly and do not lift it up to look,” she advised.

Is the bleeding under control? she asked.

“No,” Dunn answered. “It’s really bad.”

Todd recommended another towel and more pressure “without lifting the initial one up.”

About four minutes into the call, Dunn said, “We’re almost to the pass now.”

“Everybody is meeting you at the Rod & Reel Pier, OK,” the operator confirmed.

“Yes, ma’am,” Dunn replied, adding that Wickersham was still conscious but both his eyes were closed.

“Try to keep him awake, OK,” Todd said.

“His hands are tingly,” Dunn said about seven minutes into the call.

“Is it bleeding through the second towel,” Todd asked.

Dunn said no.

“OK, good,” Todd said. “Keep pressing down firmly, OK.”

Dunn relayed the information to Bystrom, who was holding the towels. And to Wickersham, she called, “Open your eyes C.J.”

About nine minutes into the call, Dunn said she could see the pier and advised the operator that Gazzo was going to drive the boat to the beach.

“We see Rod & Reel Pier,” Dunn said.

“OK,” the operator replied.

“OK, we’re coming up to it now. I see the fire truck.… We’re going to pull up on the beach,” Dunn said. “Pulling up on the beach now. We’re here C.J. We’re here.”

The call lasted 10 minutes.

“We all were really surprised at how fast it was,” Dunn said later. “It will probably be the longest 10 minutes in any of our lives.”

Throughout those minutes, there was an effort to stay calm, and to keep Wickersham as calm as possible.

“When I was telling the 911 operator his vitals, I would turn away from C.J. so he wouldn’t hear me,” said Dunn, who recently completed nursing school and begins an RN program in November. “And I knew Connor had told him it was just a large cut — even though we knew C.J. had seen and felt the extent of his injury.”

 

The response

News of the rapid response of Wickersham’s brought widespread attention to the young people, to Anna Maria Island and to a variety of issues, including the sport of fishing.

Network and cable news reports covered the incident, as well as TV programs such as “Good Morning America.” Accounts circulated in the blogosphere, livened Facebook pages and earned prominent placement in newspapers from the Anna Maria Island weeklies to the India Times.

“I know I can speak for everyone when I say it has been overwhelming,” Dunn said of the media attention. “All any of us care about is C.J. recovering and being here with us today. That is No. 1 and will remain No. 1.”

The story also caught the attention of shark hunters, such as Bill “the Sharkman of Cortez” Goldschmitt, and animal welfare advocates such as PETA.

Goldschmitt, last week, was promoting a shark-fishing contest.

And three days after the attack, PETA — or People for the Ethical Treatment of Animals — announced the debut of a local outdoor advertising campaign called “Payback is Hell.”

The ad, planned for billboards and bus benches near the Island, shows a shark with a leg in its mouth and a red spray of blood. The copy reads, “Payback is Hell. Go Vegan.”

“Humans hook, spear, maim and kill fish for sport every day,” said PETA executive vice president Tracy Reiman. “The most dangerous predator of all is the one holding the fishing rod or standing at the all-you-can-eat seafood buffet.”

On and around the Island, where recreational and commercial fishing is a way of life, many said the PETA campaign showed poor taste.

“They seem to be under the impression that this big bull shark was acting like a big brother and protecting the little fish,” said Bradenton Beach resident Joseph Hall, who last week dined with vacationing relatives at the Rod & Reel Pier. “The bull shark eats the littler fish. Does PETA want him to get payback too?”

Alice Forbes of Anna Maria said because of rumors and hype associated with the shark bite, she had a hard time convincing her relatives, visiting from England, that the Gulf shore is safe for swimmers.

“Every shadow in the water frightened them,” she said. “But it didn’t help that Islanders were posting on Facebook that a shark attack happened outside their front door and that TV news made it sound like the whole area is infested.”

Bystrom said, “I just wish all the news would quit mentioning PETA. They just did it to get their name out there.”

“The focus,” he said, “should be on C.J.”