Humpback whale swallows then spits out kayaker in Chile – and it’s captured on video
Adrian Simancas was paddling off Chilean Patagonia when the giant whale surged out of the water swallowing him and his yellow kayak
01:27
‘I thought I died’: humpback whale swallows and spits out kayaker in off Chile
A huge humpback whale briefly scooped a kayaker in its mouth in the seas off the coast of southern Chile before spitting him out unscathed in a dramatic incident caught on camera.
The kayaker, Adrian Simancas, was out with his father last weekend in the seas off the town of Punta Arenas, when the whale surfaced and scooped him up in his mouth.
“I felt like I was being lifted, but it was clearly too strong to be a wave,” said Simancas.
“When I turned, I felt something blue and white passing close to my face, like on one side and above. I didn’t understand what was happening. Then everything … I went under and thought I had been swallowed.”
Luckily, the whale quickly spat out Simancas unharmed. His father, in another kayak, caught the whole thing on camera.
“I turned on the camera and heard a wave crash behind me, loudly. When I turned, I didn’t see anything,” said his father, Dell Simancas.