KAYAKER SWALLOWED BY A WHALE AND SPIT OUT A MOMENT LATER
Adrian Simancas, a 24-year-old kayaker from Venezuela, has an unforgettable tale. He was abruptly engulfed by a humpback whale while kayaking with his father in Chile's Strait of Magellan, one of the most well-known whale-watching locations worldwide. Despite the initial fear, the kayaker quickly and safely escaped the whale's mouth. Simancas' father, Dell, recorded this tense moment on camera.
His father began recording when he spotted some “pretty waves that seemed exciting” while the young kayaker was a few feet behind. However, a humpback whale breached and ingested Simancas whole, causing movement instead of typical waves. "I felt a slimy texture on my face when I turned around, and I saw colours like white and dark blue, and something coming from behind that closed… and sank me," the younger Simancas told CNN. "I didn't know what it was, but I felt like there was nothing I could do and that I was going to die right then." Fortunately, he returned to the surface two seconds later, reconstructing the events that had transpired.
His father also experienced a terrifying moment when he heard a powerful wave crashing behind him and turned to see his son had vanished. "I became frightened after three seconds of not seeing Adrián," the elder Simancas told TVN. "I look around, but I don't see Adrián or anything else. I hadn’t seen him for about three seconds, so that was the only truly frightening moment I experienced. And then all of a sudden, he comes out as if he was shot out.”