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A commercial lobster diver has one amazing story to tell after he was nearly eaten by a whale in Cape Cod, Massachusetts on Friday (June 11).
Michael Packard says he spent a half-minute inside the massive mammal’s mouth before “he spit me out,” he wrote on a community Facebook page detailing the ordeal.
“Hi everyone, I just want to clarify what happened to me today,” he wrote. “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 am very bruised up but have no broken bones. I want to thank the Provincetown rescue squad for there caring and help.”
https://www.facebook.com/groups/provincetowncommunityspace/permalink/5604243856312389/
Although Packard didn’t have any broken bones, he did suffer a dislocated knee and soft tissue damage. The father of two was released from Cape Cod Hospital hours later.
He told NBC Boston he was lobster diving in about 45 feet of water when things began going south. He thought he had been attacked by a shark but then once he realized he couldn’t feel any teeth, he made a new discovery.
“I said, ‘Oh my god, I’m in the mouth of a whale,'” Packard recalled.
He continued, “I just was struggling but I knew this was this massive creature, there was no way I was going to bust myself out of there. This is how you’re going to die. In the mouth of a whale.”
Luckily for him, the whale rose back to surface and spit him out.
“I was just laying on the surface floating and saw his tail and he went back down, and I was like, ‘Oh my god, I got out of that, I survived,'” he said.
Usually, humpback whale and human encounters such as the one Packard endured are rare and another reminder to let the whales be whales and not disturb their habitat.
