Adrian Simancas, from Chile, was out on his kayak in the sea when he was suddenly swallowed hole by a humpback whale and has lived to tell the tale of what it felt like
Horrified dad watches whale swallow son whole and then spit him out
A kayaker has told what it was like to be swallowed by a humpback whale and then spat out again.
Adrian Simancas was kayaking with his father, Dell, in Bahia El Aguila in the Strait of Magellan off the coast of Chile when a humpback whale surfaced, engulfing Adrian and his yellow kayak for a few seconds before letting him go.
Speaking about the ordeal and what it was like to be inside the 50-foot whale on February 8, he admits that he thought he was going to die after first thinking he had been hit by a wave.
Dell, just meters away, captured the moment on video while encouraging his son to stay calm. “Stay calm, stay calm,” he can be heard saying after his son was released from the whale’s mouth. “I thought I was dead,” said Adrian. “I thought it had eaten me, that it had swallowed me.”
He described the “terror” of those few seconds and explained that his real fear set in only after resurfacing, fearing that the huge whale would hurt his father or that he would die in the freezing waters.
Despite the terrifying experience, Dell remained focused, filming and reassuring his son while grappling with his own worry. “When I came up and started floating, I was scared that something might happen to my father too, that we wouldn’t reach the shore in time, or that I would get hypothermia,” Adrian said.
After a few seconds in the water, Adrian managed to reach his father’s kayak and was helped back to shore uninjured. Speaking to local outlet TVN he said: “I saw something blue and white passing close to my face, like on one side and on top, but I didn’t understand what was happening. The next minute I sank.”
He continued: “Half an hour before, I saw a small jet of water shooting out, then I felt a blow coming from behind, which lifted me up a little. I thought it could be a wave, but it was too strong. Then, when I turned around , I felt a slimy texture on my face and I saw colours like dark blue, white and something approaching from behind that closed in on me and made me sink.
“At that moment I thought that it had eaten me, that it had swallowed me.” Located about 1,600 miles south of Santiago, Chile’s capital, the Strait of Magellan is a major tourist attraction in Chilean Patagonia, known for adventure activities. Its freezing waters pose a challenge for sailors, swimmers and explorers who attempt to cross it in different ways.
Although it is summer in the Southern Hemisphere, temperatures in the region remain cool, with minimums dropping to 4C and highs rarely exceeding 20C. While whale attacks on humans are extremely rare in Chilean waters, whale deaths from collisions with cargo ships have increased in recent years, and strandings have become a recurring issue in the last decade.