A kayaker in Chile had a miraculous escape after briefly being swallowed by a whale and then spat out, in a moment that was all caught on camera.
Adrian Simancas was paddling off the coast of Punta Arenas, Patagonia, when a massive humpback whale suddenly surged out of the water, engulfing him and his yellow kayak.
For five tense seconds, Simancas disappeared beneath the frigid waters before resurfacing, shocked but unharmed, as the whale swam away.
“I thought he’d swallowed me!” Simancas exclaimed in a now-viral video posted by his father, Dell Simancas, who can be heard shouting, “Relax! Relax!” to his understandably shaken son.
The footage shows the young kayaker clinging to his overturned vessel while his father reassures him, saying, “Relax, relax, I’m coming. Let’s go to shore.”
Recalling the experience, Simancas told Chile’s TVN, “I saw something blue and white pass close to my face… I didn’t understand what was happening, and then I sank. I thought it had eaten me.”
His father described his moment of panic: “I turned around and didn’t see Adrian. That was the only time I really felt fear—he was gone for three seconds. Then suddenly, he shot out of the water.”
Why Did the Whale Swallow the Kayaker?
Marine experts explained that while the whale appeared to swallow the kayaker, it was an accident. Humpback whales have small throats and cannot physically swallow large objects like a kayak.
“It seems that the kayak was right in the whale’s feeding patch,” said marine biologist Maria Jose Perez from the University of Chile. “These events are rare but can happen when kayaks silently enter a whale’s hunting area without being noticed.”
The dramatic kayaker swallowed by whale moment has captivated social media, serving as both an incredible survival story and a reminder of the power of nature.
