‘I felt a slimy texture’: Man recalls being swallowed by a whale in Chile

Adrián Simancas was paddling alongside his father when a humpback whale swallowed him. Here, he reveals what he was thinking while stuck inside its mouth. Watch the video.

A kayaker in Chilean Patagonia has recalled the moment he was swallowed by a humpback whale briefly before it swiftly spitting him back out.

The incredible moment was captured on camera and has quickly gone viral on social media.

Last Saturday, Adrián Simancas was paddling alongside his father, Dell, in Bahía El Águila near the San Isidro Lighthouse in the Strait of Magellan when a massive humpback whale suddenly surfaced.

In an instant, the whale engulfed Adrián and his bright yellow kayak, holding him for a few seconds before releasing him unharmed.

The moment was captured by Dell, who was just metres away, as he encouraged his adult son to stay calm.

“Stay calm, stay calm,” he can be heard saying after his son was released from the whale’s mouth.

“I spent a second realising I was inside the mouth of something, that maybe it had eaten me, that it could have been an orca or a sea monster,” the 23-year-old told BBC Mundo.

Adrián began thinking about how he might survive inside the humpback whale “like Pinocchio” before he was spat back out of its mouth.

“I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, I realised I was inside the whale’s mouth,” Adrián told the BBC.

“I felt a slimy texture brush my face,” he recalled, adding that all he could see was dark blue and white.

“I wondered what I could do if it had swallowed me since I could no longer fight to stop it,” he said.

“I had to think about what to do next.

“I was a little afraid of whether I would be able to hold my breath because I didn’t know how deep I was, and I felt like it took me a long time to come up.

“I went up for two seconds, and finally I got to the surface and realised that it hadn’t eaten me.”

“I thought I was dead,” Adrián also told The Associated Press.

“I thought it had eaten me, that it had swallowed me.”

He recalled the “terror” of those brief moments, admitting that his true fear set in only after resurfacing — dreading that the massive whale might harm his father or that he himself would succumb to the icy waters.

A kayaker in Chilean Patagonia had a heart-stopping encounter when a humpback whale briefly swallowed him before swiftly spitting him back out. Picture X

Adrián Simancas was paddling alongside his father, Dell, in Bahía El Águila near the San Isidro Lighthouse in the Strait of Magellan when a massive humpback whale suddenly surfaced. Picture X

“When I came up and started floating, I was scared that something might happen to my father too, that we wouldn’t reach the shore in time, or that I would get hypothermia,” Adrián said.

However, despite the scare, both father and son returned to shore uninjured.

Situated roughly 3000 kilometres south of Santiago, Chile’s capital, the Strait of Magellan is a renowned tourist destination in Chilean Patagonia, attracting adventure seekers from around the world.

The moment was captured by Dell, who was just metres away, as he encouraged his adult son to stay calm. Picture X

Despite it being summer, temperatures in the region remain cool, with lows dipping to 4 degrees Celsius and highs rarely surpassing 20 degrees.

While whale attacks on humans are exceedingly rare in Chilean waters, the number of whale fatalities due to collisions with cargo ships has risen in recent years and have become an increasingly frequent concern over the past decade.