Teen recovers from shark bite at Indian Harbor Beach

Bandaged up and back from the hospital, 13-year-old Joshua Stuart says it's an experience he'll never forget:  being bitten by a shark.

"They checked out the gash, the wound to see what it was and there was a big kind of like mouth you could see where the bite was and they knew it was a shark then," Stuart said.

It happened Sunday afternoon at Indian Harbor Beach while Stuart and his friends were out surfing, they had been in the water for about 30 minutes when he felt a sharp pain in his left foot.

"When I saw it I was screaming as loud as I could to get their attention," Stuart said.

The Hoover Middle School eighth grader is using crutches to get around -- he removed the bandage on his foot to show Fox 35 the 6 stitches where doctors patched him up -– it looked pretty painful, but Stuart had a different take on it.

"I think it's pretty cool that I'm one of the ones that got bit," Stuart said.

Almost a rite of passage for the young surfer who's already anxious to get back on the waves.

"I'm ready to surf," Stuart said.

Stuart said he’ll have his stitches removed next week and hopes to be back on his feet shortly after.