Hawaii man recounts encounter with 13-foot tiger shark

WAIMEA, Hawaii (KGO) -- A Hawaii man is alive and now recounting his terrifying encounter with a 13-foot tiger shark.

Braxton Rocha, 27, was spear fishing with a buddy on Sunday when he was attacked by the shark. He believes the shark probably mistook him for a seal in the dark, murky water.

"Her head was probably like this big. It was massive and she was just right in front of me. I just put my hands on top of her nose to get her away from me, but she was pushing me back, just because of her brute force. She was so big. And she was pushing me back and I tried to get her off of me, away from me and that's when she sunk down onto my leg," Rocha said.

After the attack, Rocha managed to swim 60 yards to shore, then walk to his truck a quarter of a mile away. It took 100 staples to close his wounds, but he's already walking, and he says anxious to get back into the ocean.