Michael Packard felt a blow, and everything went dark. On June 11, 2021, the 56-year-old lobster diver was working off Provincetown, Massachusetts, at a depth of about 14 meters, when a humpback whale caught him in its mouth. At first he thought it was a shark; then he realized there were no teeth.
He kept his breathing apparatus and estimated that he was there for between 30 and 40 seconds. The whale surfaced and expelled him; his companion rescued him and took him to the hospital. He came away with bruises but no broken bones.
Reports pointed to a possible accident while the whale was feeding. Packard was trapped in its mouth and did not reach the stomach: he survived about 30 seconds underwater that turned a routine work dive into an extraordinary experience. 🐋