Michael Packàrd is a lover of the open sea, which is why the man's passion for lobster diving thrives this time of year. On his second dive of the day, he searched for lobster but was instead met with a mammoth-sized dark hole. And it wasn't just the deep depths of the sea...
It turned out that the experienced diver was swallowed whole by a humpback whale! "All of a sudden, I felt this huge shove, and the next thing I knew, it was completely black," Packàrd expressed to the Cape Cod Times. At first, he believed a shark had eaten him and begun to accept his fate. But Michael then realized there were no sharp teeth around.
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Due to the soft interior of whatever surrounded him, Packàrd realized he was inside of a whale. "I could sense I was moving, and I could feel the whale squeezing with the muscles in his mouth," Michael shared. "I thought to myself, 'There's no way I'm getting out of here. I'm done; I'm dead.' All I could think of was my boys."
Packàrd struggled to breathe in his diving gear, "Then all of a sudden [the whale] went up to the surface and just erupted and started shaking his head," he explained. The survivor added, "I just got thrown in the air and landed in the water. I was free, and I just floated there. I couldn't believe... I'm here to tell it."
Luckily, Captain Joe Francis of a nearby boat witnessed Michael's exit from the humpback. "I saw Mike come flying out of the water feet first with his flippers on and land back in the water...We got him [on the boat], Got him on the deck and calmed him down, and he goes... 'I can't believe it, I was in the mouth of a whale Joe!'"
Michael was raced to the emergency room and was sure both of his legs were broken. But thankfully, staff at the Cape Cod Hospital determined that neither leg was injured. In fact, Packàrd was released the same day with only minor bruising! The diver couldn't be happier to be home safe and sound with his family. And he sure has a whale of a tale for the dinner table!
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