Oh God, I’m in a whale’s mouth... and he’s trying to swallow me!
Diver tells of his amazing escape as humpback spits him out after 40 seconds of absolute terror
A DIVER who was trapped in the jaws of a humpback whale has told of his ‘miraculous’ escape after being in the mouth of the beast for 40 seconds before being spat out.
Michael Packard was 45ft below the surface diving for lobster when he was engulfed by the feeding whale off Cape Cod in the US state of Massachusetts.
‘All of a sudden, I felt this huge shove, this huge bump and everything went black,’ said the 56-year-old. ‘And then I realised, “Oh my God, I’m in a whale’s mouth… I’m in a whale’s mouth and he’s trying to swallow me.”
‘I could sense I was moving and I could feel the whale squeezing with the muscles in his mouth. And I thought to myself, “OK, this is it. I’m going to die.” ’
Mr Packard, who has been a professional lobster diver for 40 years, was wearing full scuba gear. He had set sail at 8am on Friday
‘I thought to myself, “I’m not getting out of here. I’m dead” ’
on his vessel the Ja’n’J, named after his sons Jacob, 15, and 12-year-old Josiah.
He said he initially feared he had been attacked by a shark and his thoughts turned to his wife and sons, only to ‘realise I wasn’t in pain. I moved my hand around and I couldn’t feel any teeth’.
In a remarkable story reminiscent of the biblical tale of Jonah and the whale, Packard said that in those dramatic few seconds he had come to terms with death.
‘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.”’
However, he began trying to calculate how much air he had left in his oxygen tank. ‘I just thought, “Is this what is going to happen? I’m going to stay in here until my air runs out?” I was in there for 30 to 40 seconds. I started moving and I could tell the whale didn’t like it.’
It started shaking its head. ‘He started throwing his head from side to side. I saw light and the next thing I knew I was out in the water. I flew through the air and landed in the ocean. I was free and just floated there. I can’t believe I am here to tell the tale.’
Crewman Josiah Mayo said he saw the mammal ‘burst to the surface’ before spewing out his friend, adding: ‘There was all this action at the top of the water. Then the whale flung him back into the sea.’
Captain Joe Francis, who was in a nearby boat, said: ‘I saw Mike come flying out of the water, feet first, with his flippers on. We got him up on to the boat, got his tank off. He goes, “Joe, I was in the mouth of a whale! I can’t believe it!” ’
Mr Packard was taken to a nearby hospital but apart from bruises to his legs and abdomen, was well enough to walk out less than two hours later.
Jooke Robbins, director of humpback whale studies at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, Massachusetts, said he suspected the whale was feeding on sand eels and plankton. ‘When a humpback opens i ts mouth to feed, it billows out like a parachute, blocking the animal’s forward vision, which is why so many become entangled in fishing gear.
‘They do what is called “gulp” feeding. He [Mike] was just in the wrong place at the wrong time. This is a very unusual accident and, I think, a surprise to all involved. Whales are generally not interested in bothering humans.’
Humpback whales can grow to 50ft long and weigh about 36 tons. There are about 60,000 in the world. Charles ‘ Stormy’ Mayo, another whale expert, added: ‘You rarely, if ever, hear of something like this happening. It’s like you’re sitting down for a nice meal and all of a sudden into your mouth flies a fly.’
Mr Packard has cheated death before. A few years ago, he was dragged out to sea in a current and forced to tread water for three hours before being rescued, and when he was a diver in California he lost several friends to shark attacks.
A decade ago, travelling in Costa Rica, he survived a small plane crash that killed the pilot, co-pilot and a fellow passenger.
‘They called me “Lucky Mike” before this happened,’ he said. ‘I know how lucky I am to have got through this.’