A lobster diver has just gone through a one-of-a-kind ordeal after reportedly being swallowed by a humpback whale near Provincetown.
Michael Packard, 56, stated for media outlets that he was 45 feet down when he suddenly ended up inside the huge whale’s mouth. It turned out the veteran diver had a lucky star because the animal spit him back out after only 30 seconds.
How did it all; happen?
A little before 8 a.m. on Friday, the lobster diver got in the water for his second dive that day, as The Cape Cod Times reported.
His vessel was surrounded by a fleet of other boats catching striped bass, off Herring Cover Beach. The visibility was about 20 feet and the water temperature a cozy 60 degrees.
The licensed commercial lobster diver was used to the technique of plucking lobsters off the sandy bottom and as Michael Packard dove down that morning he spotted schools of sand lances and other fish swimming by. The ocean food chain was all around him, but in a few seconds, he realized what it meant to be a literal part of it.
In a biblical type of experience, Packard was suddenly swallowed by a humpback whale.
“Hi everyone, I just want to clarify what happened to me today. I was lobster diving and a humpback whale tried to eat me. I was in his closed mouth for about 30 to 40 seconds before he rose to the surface and spit me out. I want to thank the Provincetown rescue squad for their care and help,” the diver wrote on social media on Friday.
He was taken to hospital immediately after the unearthly experience. After his release he shared the entire occurrence with WBZ-TV.
“All of a sudden I just felt this huge bump, and everything went dark," he told the outlet. After initially thinking he had encountered a shark, Packard realized, "Oh my God, I'm in a whale's mouth,” the commercial diver said.
At that moment he figured it was probably the end of his time on earth, and he focused on the memories with his wife and two sons. However, before long things turned out much better than expected. The whale came back to the surface of the water and spit him out.
Cynthia Packard, the diver’s sister, shared with the Cape Cod Times that another crewman on the diver’s ship saw when the whale came out and flung Packard out.
“Thank God it wasn't a white shark. He sees them all the time out there. He must have thought he was done,” she said.
According to Fox News, Packard pointed out that he could keep breathing while inside because he still had his scuba gear on.
“Based on what was described, this would have to be a mistake and an accident on the part of the humpback,” Jooke Robbins, director of Humpback Whale Studies at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, said for the Cape Cod Times.