I am a little skeptical of this modern day Jonah. What do you guys think??

BARNSTABLE, Mass. (AP) — A commercial lobster diver who got caught in the mouth of a humpback whale off the coast of Cape Cod on Friday morning said he thought he was going to die.

Michael Packard, 56, of Wellfleet, told WBZ-TV after he was released from Cape Cod Hospital that he was about 45 feet (14 meters) deep in the waters off Provincetown when “all of a sudden I felt this huge bump, and everything went dark.”

12th dead whale washes up on Bay Area beach this year
He thought he had been attacked by a shark, common in area waters, but then realized he could not feel any teeth and he wasn’t in any pain.

“Then I realized, oh my God, I’m in a whale’s mouth … and he’s trying to swallow me,” he said. “And I thought to myself OK, this is it — I’m finally — I’m gonna die.” His thoughts went to his wife and children.
He estimates he was in the whale’s mouth for about 30 seconds, but continued to breathe because he still had his breathing apparatus in.

Then the whale surfaced, shook its head, and spit him out. He was rescued by his crewmate in the surface boat.

His sister, Cynthia Packard, originally told the Cape Cod Times that her brother broke a leg, but he said later that his legs are just bruised.

Charles “Stormy” Mayo, a senior scientist and whale expert at the Center for Coastal Studies in Provincetown, told the newspaper that such human-whale encounters are rare.

Humpbacks are not aggressive and Mayo thinks it was an accidental encounter while the whale was feeding on fish, likely sand lance.

link: https://wgntv.com/news/trendin...-mouth-off-cape-cod/

I would say it is very possible. I believe that the HumpBack whales eat krill so all they do is open their mouths in a school of krill and filter the water out. The human diver probably just got in the way, the whale felt him in his mouth, surfaced, opened his mouth to empty whatever the whale thought was not krill or food. God Bless

I recall a similar story from my childhood about a dude named Jonah...

I'd label this story much more plausible than encounters with Bigfoot or little green men.

So he went from 45' to the surface in about 30 seconds. Little fast of an accent but maybe it's all good. How long he had been at 45' would play a role.

I have been in the water with Whale Sharks. Close enough to touch them. Was never worried about ending up in one in the mouth of one.

BS

He's not the first.

Some Australian guy had it happen on high definition film. I saw it today.

Feast your eyes on this:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ChcEb6mlEUo

I'm trouble by the "he shook his head" part. The man wouldn't have known what was occuring to that detail from inside the mouth. He'd just find himself back outside. I'm skeptical, but it is plausible.

quote:

Originally posted by comet24:
So he went from 45' to the surface in about 30 seconds. Little fast of an accent but maybe it's all good. How long he had been at 45' would play a role.

I sort of assumed he might have been on umbilical vs. SCUBA and I have no idea what the decompression considerations are on surface-pumped air if that’s the case.

-Rob

Is it possible to not see a whale coming at you until you end up in its mouth? I suppose anything is possible but if this story is true the guy needs to drastically improve his situational awareness.

Jonah be laughing somewhere

quote:

I suppose anything is possible but if this story is true the guy needs to drastically improve his situational awareness.

^^^^^^^^^^^^^
hahahaha

The visibility can be pretty bad off Cape Cod, it is something which should definitely be included in the story. I used to lobster dive commercially back in the 80’s in FL and we’d dive even in awful vis, and often at night. The difference between diving for fun and diving for money. I’d mark this down as plausible.

quote:

Originally posted by comet24:
So he went from 45' to the surface in about 30 seconds. Little fast of an accent but maybe it's all good. How long he had been at 45' would play a role.

I have been in the water with Whale Sharks. Close enough to touch them. Was never worried about ending up in one in the mouth of one.

45'? Not all that deep, and popping up quickly on compressed, solvable if you go back down for a few minutes.

Yes, seen a whale and wasn't woried at all.
Seen a few sharks... THATS the stuff who's mouth I'm woried about ending up in!

I don't doubt it's true, but I have a hard time envisioning a whale "shaking its head."

I've been to Ninevah, where Jonah went to preach, having been sent back after his whale episode. Not much to save there, frankly, and when I saw it, it wasn't in very good shape. Not very friendly place, either.

Today, they call it "Mosul." I don't miss it, much. Johan might have been better off in the whale.

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:

quote:

Originally posted by comet24:
So he went from 45' to the surface in about 30 seconds. Little fast of an accent but maybe it's all good. How long he had been at 45' would play a role.

I sort of assumed he might have been on umbilical vs. SCUBA and I have no idea what the decompression considerations are on surface-pumped air if that’s the case.

-Rob

Doesn't matter. Surface supplied will have the same effect on gases in your body as SCUBA.

45' really isn't that deep but I wouldn't pop up that quickly.

quote:

Originally posted by comet24:

quote:

Originally posted by BurtonRW:

quote:

Originally posted by comet24:
So he went from 45' to the surface in about 30 seconds. Little fast of an accent but maybe it's all good. How long he had been at 45' would play a role.

I sort of assumed he might have been on umbilical vs. SCUBA and I have no idea what the decompression considerations are on surface-pumped air if that’s the case.

-Rob

Doesn't matter. Surface supplied will have the same effect on gases in your body as SCUBA.

45' really isn't that deep but I wouldn't pop up that quickly.

Neither would I as a former SCUBA Assistant Instructor.

45' to surface in the whale's mouth, he didn't have much choice. I suspect it seemed as if the whale shook it's head, when who knows? I don't think I'd be thinking very clearly.

You keep what you Krill.