In an extraordinary incident captured on camera, a massive humpback whale briefly enveloped a kayaker in its mouth in the waters off the southern Chilean coast near Santiago. The kayaker, Adrian Simancas, was out with his father near Punta Arenas when the whale suddenly surfaced and momentarily held him in its mouth.
Simancas recounted, "I felt like I was being lifted, but it was clearly too strong to be a wave. 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."
Fortunately, the whale swiftly released Simancas unharmed. His father, Dell Simancas, who was in another kayak, recorded the entire unfolding event.
Describing the moments of uncertainty, Dell Simancas shared, "I turned on the camera and heard a wave crash behind me, loudly. When I turned, I didn't see anything." He added, "So that was the only moment of real fear because I didn't see Adrian for about three seconds. Then he suddenly shot out without the packraft, and a second later, the packraft emerged, and then I saw the fin of something."
Reflecting on the ordeal, Adrian Simancas expressed his disbelief, stating, "I thought I was done for, that I was dead. It was like three strange seconds down there."