By Jason Schwartz
Boca Raton businessman and former Miami Dolphins fullback Robert Konrad says several jellyfish bit him and sharks circled him after he fell off a boat while fishing and swam about nine miles to shore recently.
“I shouldn’t be here,” Konrad, a partner in a financial consulting firm in Boca, told reporters at a news conference. “I’ve been a boater my whole life, been around water and snorkel, dive and swim. After 16 hours in the water and … after some time, I just said, “Look, I’m not dying tonight. I have two beautiful daughters. I’m hitting shore.”
Konrad had gone fishing alone Jan. 7 after being dropped off at a dock downtown Boca Raton around 1 p.m.
The Syracuse University graduate, who was drafted by the Dolphins and played for them from 1999 to 2004, was fishing offshore when he fell from his 36-foot Grady White as he was trying to reel in a fish around 3 p.m.
Facing darkness, 10-foot waves, 25-mile-per-hour winds, and with his boat moving away about 5 mph on autopilot, he started out to swim for shore without a life jacket. He was bitten by jellyfish and circled by sharks twice.
Konrad said he “prayed to God” to send a boat or Coast Guard while alternating between the breaststroke and backstroke.
“I realized I was in some real trouble but I kept saying I can do this. I’m going to swim all night and I’m going to hit shore.”
Palm Beach police said he showed up at 4:47 a.m. the following day at 1800 S. Ocean Blvd., barefoot, wearing only his jockey underwear, and knocked on the gate of the late attorney Bob Montgomery’s ocean-side mansion.
An officer working an off-duty security detail called for paramedics.
Konrad’s personal assistant called the Coast Guard to report him missing at midnight, and they launched a helicopter to look for him. They called off the search once they got word that Konrad was found.
Konrad’s boat was located off Dead Man’s Reef in Grand Bahama Island on Friday afternoon, the autopilot device still on, Coast Guard officials said.
“He was lucky he was able to swim nine miles throughout the night in the dark in the frigid waters,” U.S. Coast Guard Petty Officer Mark Barney said. “He was pretty exhausted.”
Konrad told the Coast Guard and police that he was in the water for about 10 to 12 hours. He also said he saw the Coast Guard helicopter’s search light, but they did not see him in the choppy, 70-degree water.
The 38-year-old was taken to Good Samaritan Hospital, where he was treated for possible hypothermia.
“It is just incomprehensible that this gentleman survived actually, because your temperature is going to drop,” Dr. Scott McFarland with the Palm Beach Gardens Medical Center told WPBF-TV. “It’s almost guaranteed he has muscle damage, muscle cell breakdown, rhabdomyolysis that injures your kidneys, but it’s a testament to a strong heart and a tough body and wickedly strong constitution that he made it.”