Caitlin Taylor was swimming in Florida in waist-deep water when she came face to face with a nightmare situation. She was visiting from Kentucky and enjoying a nice beach vacation but instead she will be spending time recovering from a terrifying incident.

She saw something swimming up to her in the ocean, which she initially thought was a dolphin, but it was something much worse.

Tracey Taylor, Caitlin's mother, said that "She turned around and the head of it was coming towards her with a wave and she said she turned to swim back to shore."

That was when it grabbed her. Her mom said that it grabbed her and lifted her off the bottom. Taylor reacted quickly, and turned and punched it in the face, stunning it enough that it let go. Warning: the photos are a bit brutal, and may be too graphic for some.

She was taken to the hospital with what they called "fairly minor" injuries, but they look pretty painful and could but it's scary to think that they could have been a lot worse.

Witnesses said the shark was about 5 feet long but weren't able to identify the type. One tourist, Francis Thelen, said that "She was bleeding pretty good. She was lucky it didn't get her femoral artery because that could have been really serious."

She really is lucky to be alive!