Man Recalls Hallowing Moment He Was Swallowed By A Whale
Timothy Roberts
When we think about fearful things in the ocean, we often think about sharks. In reality, however, the ocean is full of danger, and at times, it may come unexpectedly.
That is exactly what happened to Rainer Schimph, who was taking pictures off the South African coast.
Photo: YouTube/TODAY
He was on-site to take video and pictures of a sardine run. That is a situation where sardines gather together en mass, and predators come in to feed on them.
As you can imagine, witnessing something like this would be quite a spectacle. It would be difficult not to get tied into the situation and get distracted, and that may have been what happened to Schimpf.
The diver was aware that he might have some sharks in the area, but he wasn't expecting to get swallowed by a Bryde's whale. He realized what happened almost instantly when everything went black, and he started to get concerned that he might not survive.
Photo: YouTube/TODAY
One of the dangers of being swallowed by a whale is the fact that they can dive down to great depths and spit you out. Fortunately, you aren't in danger of being swallowed because they don't have an esophagus that allows them to swallow something as large as a human.
Schimpf was in luck because the whale decided to spit him out in the shallow water rather than take him down into the deep. After being released from the whale's mouth, he was ready to watch the salmon run again.
All in all, he said that the ordeal took about two seconds, and at first, he felt the pressure on his hip and knew that it was a whale. According to TODAY, he also realized the whale couldn't swallow him, but he was afraid that the mammal would go on a deep dive.
Photo: YouTube/TODAY
Per TODAY, he said: "I held my breath and I was prepared, that's the only thing I could do. You can't fight a 15 ton animal, I was just holding on and bracing myself, calming myself down not to be panicked. It worked out, he spat me out."
Perhaps the most amazing thing is the fact that when he got home, he wasn't bruised or cut in any way. He spent a moment in the mouth of a whale, which is something that very few people can say of themselves and he didn't have a mark to show for it.
