A humpback whale briefly swallowed a kayaker off the coast of Chilean Patagonia before released it quickly unscathed. The incident, Taken from the cameraquickly became viral.
Last Saturday, Adrián Simancas was in kayak with his father, Dell, in Bahía El Águila near the lighthouse of San Isidro in the Strait of Magellan when a humpback whale surfaced, engulfing Adrián and his yellow kayak for a few seconds before Let him go.
Dell, a few meters away, captured the moment on the video while encouraging his son to stay calm.
“Stay calm, stay calm”, can we hear that after the release of his son of the whale.
“I thought I was dead,” Adrián told the Associated Press. “I thought it had eaten me, that it had swallowed me.”
He described the “terror” of these few seconds and explained that his real fear is only established after resurfacing, fearing that the enormous animal would harm his father or that he would perish in icy waters .
Dell Simancas via AP
Despite the terrifying experience, Dell remained concentrated, spinning and reassuring his son while attacking his own concern.
“When I came and I started to float, I was afraid that something could also happen to my father, that we do not reach shore in time, or that I would have hypothermia,” said Adrián.
After a few seconds in the water, Adrián managed to reach his father’s kayak and was quickly helped. Despite fear, the two returned to the shore without injuries.
Dell Simancas via AP
Located about 1,600 miles south of Santiago, the capital of Chile, the Magellan Strait is a major tourist attraction of Chilean Patagonia, known for adventure activities.
Its freezing waters pose a challenge for sailors, swimmers and explorers who try to cross it in different ways.
Although it is summer in the southern hemisphere, temperatures in the region remain cool, with minimums falling at 39 degrees fahrenheit and summits rarely exceeding 68 degrees fahrenheit.
Dell Simancas via AP
While whale attacks against humans are extremely rare in Chilean waters, Deaths of whales due to collisions with cargos have increased in recent years, and the drying has become a recurring problem in the past decade.
Last year, an incredible video captured the moment when a whale capsized a boat off the coast of the New Hampshire, sending two men flying in the ocean, CBS Boston reported. Two adolescents nearby, the one who recorded the video, came to their immediate rescue.
In 2020, two women were eliminated from their kayak by a humpback whale off the coast of Avila Beach, California. Julie McSorley and Liz Cottrielle were not swallowed by the whale but were briefly in his mouth.
“Because we had our life jackets, as soon as the whale lets us out of its mouth, we went up to the surface”, McSorley told Slate In 2023. “I haven’t seen anything until then.”