A Cape Cod lobster diver said he was spat out by a humpback whale.
Michael Packard, 56, was about 10m below the surface near Herring Cove Beach, the Cape Cod Times reported.
He said:
All of a sudden, I felt this huge shove and the next thing I knew it was completely black. I could sense I was moving, and I could feel the whale squeezing with the muscles in his mouth.
I was completely inside; it was completely black. I thought to myself, ‘there’s no way I’m getting out of here. I’m done, I’m dead.’ All I could think of was my boys — they’re 12 and 15 years old.
Outfitted with scuba gear, he struggled and the whale began shaking its head so that Packard could tell he didn’t like it. He estimated he was in the whale for 30 to 40 seconds before the whale finally surfaced. Packard told CNN affiliate WBZ:
All of a sudden he went up to the surface and just erupted and started shaking his head, I just got thrown in the air, and landed in the water and I was free and I just floated there.
I couldn’t believe it. I couldn’t believe I got out of that. And I’m here to tell it.
Biologist Jooke Robbins, the director of Humpback Whale Studies at Provincetown’s Center for Coastal Studies, said the unusual encounter was most likely an accident.
Humpbacks often engage in so-called lunge feeding, in which a fast-moving whale tries to gather a large volume of food in its mouth quickly.
We don’t really see humpback whales doing anything like this normally. I think it was a surprise to all involved. When they do that, they don’t necessarily see everything.
