I was swallowed whole by a WHALE – I thought ‘this is how I die’ but somehow I survived
A LOBSTER diver who was swallowed whole by a WHALE thought "this his how I die" - but he miraculously survived and lived to tell the tale.
Michael Packard, 56, returned to work just three weeks after ending up trapped in the mouth of a 60,000-pound humpback while diving in Provincetown, Massachusetts.
June 11 last year started out as a normal day for Michael - but his world suddenly went black after he was hit by what felt like a "freight train" on his third dive of the day.
He told : "It was just a normal day for me. I go out right at sunrise. I get in the water and I did two dives.
"I usually do about 30 to 40 minute dives. And then the third dive, I dove down and I was descending to the bottom. And I was just about to the bottom.
"And I just got slammed. Just like a freight train... and then all of a sudden it went black.
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"And water was just rushing, rushing around me, and black, and I could feel pressure on my whole body. And I was just moving through the water like wicked fast. And I'm like 'what the f**k'.
"And instantly I knew I was in a whale, not a shark… and then my regulator (breathing device) fell out... and I was like, 'I better grab that f**king thing.'
"And I put it back in my mouth. And I'm in there, and I'm trying to get out, and the whale is f**king freaking out.
"And I'm thinking to myself, 'this is it, Michael. This is it. This is how you die.' And I was a 100 per cent sure that... I wouldn't get out of this situation. It was a done deal, and I thought about my kids, and my wife."
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But in an incredible stroke of luck, Michael said the whale started going up and it suddenly hit the surface, shook its enormous head and spat Michael out into the ocean.
"I was just looking up in the sky. I'm f**ked up, I know, but I think I'm going to live," he said.
It wasn't the first near-death experience for Michael after surviving a plane crash in Costa Rica 20 years ago.
"What haunts me more is my plane crash," he said.
"That's more haunting, because this was so quick... the plane crash, I sat in the jungle for three days... punctured lung and four broken ribs, 180 stitches in my head, cut Achilles.
"I probably would have lasted another day, so I had a lot of time to think about my mortality, so that was definitely more PTSD than this."
Michael was left bruised and suffered ligament damage to his knee after his brief time in the whale's mouth - but he said he doesn't even think about it anymore when he's in the water.
He said: "In my occupation, I always have some trepidation before I get in the water.
"It crosses my mind, but I can't focus on it. I just shoot it out of my mind. I was like, 'this is your job,' and I get down and I don't even think about it."
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He added: "I'm still the same old guy doing my same old s**t."
Michael is now working on a film about the whale adventure with Boston Globe staffer and filmmaker David Abe.