Kayaker ends up in the mouth of humpback whale

Feb. 14 (UPI) -- A 24-year-old kayaker in Chile was briefly swallowed, and subsequently regurgitated, by a humpback whale in an unusual encounter his father caught on camera.

Adrián Simancas Jaimes, a computer technician originally from Venezuela, was kayaking with his father in Punta Arenas, Chile, when he felt an impact on his back that knocked him out of his inflatable kayak.

His father, Meydell, captured video as his son briefly vanished into the mouth of a humpback whale.

Jaimes said he wasn't sure of what was happening until the whale spit him back out into the water.

"At first, I thought it had swallowed me whole, although I didn't really know what it was, and then, when I got back to the surface, I realized it was a whale," Jaimes told El Pais. "I also knew that there wasn't that much danger, unless it started jumping or knocked my dad off his boat, because then it would be very difficult for us to get back to shore."

Jaimes, who was not injured, was able to reunite with his dad and return to shore. He said the incident reminded him of a classic story.

"When I was inside it, I remembered Pinocchio, who was also swallowed by one," he said.

Humpback whales can grow to up to 48 tons, but they normally pose no danger to humans. They have narrow throats which prevent them from completely swallowing humans and similar-sized animals.

California kayakers Julie McSorley and Liz Cottriel had a similar experience in 2020, when they ended up briefly inside the mouth of a breaching humpback whale. Their extra-close encounter was also caught on camera -- from inside the mouth of the leviathan.