A fisherman has recalled the moment he was allegedly swallowed whole by a humpback whale.
Michael Packard – who works as a lobster diver – had been diving off the coast of Massachusetts’ Cape Cod in June 2021 when he somehow ended up in a whale’s mouth for close to a minute.
Evidently, Michael didn’t taste too good as he was spat out soon after virtually unscathed, except for a dislocated knee, per BBC News.
Hilariously, the 58-year-old has no plans to switch jobs – especially since he’s been working the same role for around 40 years – despite his wife’s repeated pleas.
According to the WWF, humpback whales can grow up to 50ft (15m) in length and weigh about 36 tons (72,000lbs).
Soon after the terrifying ordeal, Michael spoke to The Cape Cod Times, recalling how he and his buddy had taken a boat and gone diving off the coast of Herring Cove, where conditions were excellent, with water visibility at about 20ft. As he jumped into the water, however, he said he felt a large bump and that everything went dark.
“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,” Michael stated, adding that he’d originally thought he was inside a great white shark.
Though, given that he’d not received any puncture wounds and that the animal didn’t have razor sharp teeth, he concluded that he’d been swallowed by a whale. “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,” he remembered.
Thankfully, within a minute, the whale spat him out.
“Then 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. I was free and I just floated there. I couldn’t believe… I’m here to tell it,” Michael recalled, per CBS News.
Captain Joe Francis – who was heading a fishing charter nearby – witnessed the mind-boggling incident, telling the outlet: “I saw Mike come flying out of the water feet first with his flippers on and land back in the water.
“I jumped aboard the boat. We got him up, got his tank off. Got him on the deck and calmed him down and he goes, ‘Joe, I was in the mouth of a whale’ he goes ‘I can’t believe it, I was in the mouth of a whale Joe!’
Having survived his ordeal, the real-life Jonah was then taken to Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis, where his injured leg was treated by medics.
