A commercial lobster diver was caught in the mouth of a humpback whale off the coast of Cape Cod on Friday, on June 11.
He said that he thought he was going to die.
Michael Packard, 56, of Wellfleet after being released from Cape Cod Hospital said that he was about 45 feet (14 meters) deep in the waters off Province town when all of a sudden I felt this huge bump, and everything went dark.
Packard thought he had been attacked by a shark, common in area waters, but then realized he could not feel any teeth and he wasn’t in any pain.
He said, “Then I realized, oh my God, I’m in a whale’s mouth … and he’s trying to swallow me,” further added, “And I thought to myself OK, this is it — I’m finally — I’m gonna die.”
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Packard estimates that he was in the whale’s mouth for about 30 seconds, but continued to breathe because he still had his breathing apparatus on.
He got a new lease of life after the marine giant surfaced out of water, started shaking his head and spat Packard out in the air before he landed in the water. As he was finally free, he floated in the water and was rescued by his crewmate who pulled him back on the boat.
