If you’ve ever seen the size of a Humpback whale, then you’re aware of the plausibility of the Biblical account of Jonah, who refuses God’s call to go to Nineveh and tries to flee in the opposite direction, only to be tossed overboard and swallowed up by a whale.
Lobster diver Michael Packard can now speak to the veracity of the story as well, after a biblical encounter with a whale that he thought for sure he would not survive.
According to the Cape Cod Times, Packard went off into the water for his second dive of the day, only to have his efforts thwarted by a massive Humpback whale. Packard spoke to the paper:
In something truly biblical, Packard was swallowed whole by a humpback whale.
“All of a sudden, I felt this huge shove and the next thing I knew it was completely black,” Packard recalled Friday afternoon following his release from Cape Cod Hospital in Hyannis.
“I could sense I was moving, and I could feel the whale squeezing with the muscles in his mouth,” he said
Initially, Packard thought he was inside a great white shark, but he couldn’t feel any teeth and he hadn’t suffered any obvious wounds. It quickly dawned on him that he had been swallowed by a whale.
“I was completely inside; it was completely black,” Packard said. “I thought to myself, ‘there’s no way I’m getting out of here. I’m done, I’m dead.’ All I could think of was my boys — they’re 12 and 15 years old.”
It was only when Packard began struggling that the whale became uncomfortable and started shaking it’s head. “I saw the light, and he started throwing his head side to side, and the next thing I knew I was outside (in the water),” Packard told the paper.
Experts believe the whale wasn’t targeting the lobsterman, but merely ‘accidentally’ swallowed him up while trying to feed.
Check out the full story and interview from the Boston area paper HERE.