A terrifying incident happened in the Strait of Magellan in Chile when a kayaker and a humpback whale came face to face. The gigantic marine mammal briefly swallowed him but quickly released him, too, with no harm. This dramatic scene has been shot and has gone viral.
The incident took place on February 9th, when Adrián Simancas was kayaking with his father, Dell, near the Bahía El Águila by the San Isidro Lighthouse. While they were a few meters away from the beach, a whale suddenly approached them and engulfed both Simancas and his kayak. The good thing is, the whale released them within seconds, without cursing them any sort of harm, and resurfaced in the frigid waters.
Hat’s off to Simancas’s father, who was only a few meters away. He somehow managed to stay calm and encouraged his son to stay calm when he reappeared.
“Stay calm, stay calm,” he can be heard saying after his son was released from the whale’s mouth.
Simancas described the incident to be terrifying. “I thought it has already eaten me, and swallowed me, but of course, I felt like that maybe it was a killer whale. I spent a second realizing I was inside the mouth of something, that maybe it had eaten me, that it could have been an orca or a sea monster. I thought I was dead”, he added.
Simancas described the terror he went through for those few seconds stating – “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 realized it hadn’t eaten me.” However, his fear even increased after he came out, thinking that the big fish would hurt his father.
Adrian further stated, “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.” He was initially relieved to be out of the whale’s mouth, but being worried for his father’s safety, he managed to make it to the shore quickly. Despite the scary moment, they both returned to the shore uninjured.
A humpback whale swallowed a kayaker in Chile before quickly releasing him. pic.twitter.com/7OCYXvy8od
— Pop Crave (@PopCrave) February 13, 2025
Marine experts have stated that the whale was likely feeding on krill or small fish and accidentally engulfed the Kayaker in the process. It is because whales are not actively seen preying on humans. Hence, these incidents are extremely rare.
The Strait of Magellan is situated about 1,600 miles south of Chile’s Capital, Santiago, and is a popular tourist destination and is known for adventure activities. Though whale attacks are very uncommon in this place, collisions with cargo ships have recently become a frequent scene.
