It was a cloudy day off the coast of Chile, when 24-year-old Adrian Simancas and his father, Dell, were packrafting together. Suddenly, a huge mass rose from the depths of the ocean and swallowed Adrian with a humongous mouth, then plunging back into the water.

“I felt something hit me from behind – all this happened in a second – something blue or white enveloped me, and a slimy texture brushed my face, ” Simancas said later in an interview. “Then it closed completely and I started to sink, and I just closed my eyes, expecting an impact. But instead I felt as if I was surrounded by water.” It turns out that he had gotten into the mouth of a humpback whale.

A second later, Mr. Simancas resurfaced, and so did his raft. The whale’s curved back appeared behind the two packrafters, before it dove back into the ocean. His father, who had captured the whole incident on video, joined his son, telling him to remain calm. He, of course, had been quite concerned when his son had vanished, but he, too, had to remain calm in such a situation.

Jooke Robbins, director of the Humpback Whale Studies Program at the Center for Coastal Studies, located in Massachusetts, says that the rafter was in the way of the whale, which was feeding at the water’s surface on krill and ot. The whale was likely just as surprised as Mr. Simancas when he got into its mouth, and this is a rare accidental incident the likes of which almost never happens.

Cites –

https://www.nytimes.com

https://san.com

https://danawharf.com