I have read and heard many stories about the sea and the brave men and women making a living harvesting the oceans bounty. But listening to Michael Packard’s, the lobster diver from off the coast of Provincetown Massachusetts, experience of being in the mouth of a Humpback Whale takes my breath away.
Michael Packard describes this day as just routine diving forty-five feet into the sea off the coast of Provincetown, MA to check on his lobster traps. While Michael was checking the lobster traps he suddenly, “felt this huge bump and everything went dark.” Michael thought he was the victim of a shark attack. Michael had the clarity of thought, “to feel around and noticed no shark teeth.” Michael said, he felt the whale trying to swallow him. Michael thought to himself, “there was no way I’m getting out of here. I’m done, I’m dead.’ And all he could think of was his 12 and 15 year old sons.”
Fortunately, Michael’s regulator was still working, and his diving equipment was intact while in the whale’s mouth. As Michael describes 30 to 40 of the longest seconds of his life struggling to get free, the whale was shaking its head, surfaced and ejected Michael from its mouth.
Michael’s shipmate seeing him expelled from the whale’s mouth fished him out of the water and onto their boat. Michael told the Cape Cod Times, “My first thought was I can’t believe I got out of that situation. My second thought how injured he was.” Michael Packard was taken to a local hospital and his injuries turned out to be a lot of soft tissue damage.
Michael Packard and Jonah from the Bible have a lot in common.
Unbelievable experience of life and death! I did some diving many moons ago! Now I will never go diving again unless it’s in a lake!!!