It's a whale of a tale come to life. Fortunately for a lobster diver off Cape Cod, his stay in a whale's mouth was short.
Michael Packard of Provincetown, Massachusetts, who has been diving for the last 40 years, told his story to WBZ. Just after jumping off his boat into the water on Friday, he says, he "felt a huge bump, and everything went dark."
At first, he thought he was being attacked by a shark. It turned out to be something much bigger.
"And then I felt around, and I realized there was no teeth," he told the station. "And then I realized, 'Oh my God. I'm in a whale's mouth ... and he's trying to swallow me.'"
"Then all of a sudden [the whale] went up to the surface and just erupted and started shaking his head. I just got thrown in the air and landed in the water." Packard said.
"I was free, and I just floated there. I couldn't believe ... I'm here to tell it," he added.
A boat captain floating nearby, after witnessing the incident, said Packard is "damn lucky to be alive." Packard initially thought his legs were broken, but he was able to leave the hospital with a limp later in the day.
It's estimated Packard was in the mouth of he whale, thought to be a humpback, for about 30 seconds.
Not everyone was thrilled by the story, however.
Local fishermen find Packard's whale tale "hard to believe," as reported by the Daily Mail. A doctor at the Cape Cod hospital where Packard was treated told the New York Post he doubted the wild story, pointing to the man's lack of serious injury or hearing loss.
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