BBC Mundo
The first thing Kayaker Adrián Simancas noticed after the whale swallowed was mucus.
“I spent a second realizing that I was in the mouth of something, that he might have eaten me, that it could be an orka or a sea monster,” the 23-year-old told BBC Mundo.
Adrián began to think that he could survive inside the hunchy whale “like Pinocchio” – and then the creature would accompany him.
The Venezuelan Kayakash passed through Magellan’s strait, near Chile’s Patagon coast, with his father when he felt something “hit me from behind, closing me and sinking me.”
His father, Dall, managed to capture a brief torture on a video only meter.
“I closed my eyes, and when I opened them again, I realized that I was in my mouth,” Adrián told the BBC.
He felt something “slender” touching his face, and everything he could see was dark blue -white.
“I wondered what I could do if I was swallowed because I could no longer fight to stop it,” he said.
“I had to think about what to do next.”
But within a few seconds, Adrián began to feel like he was rising to the surface.
“I was a little afraid of being 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.
“I went for two seconds and finally got to the surface and realized that he didn’t eat me.”
In a nearby kayak, Adrián’s father Dall Simancas watched in disbelief.
The couple just crossed Eagle Bay – down the coast from Punt Arena, Chile’s southernmost city – when he heard the collision behind him. “When I turned, I didn’t see Adrián.”
“I was worried for a second, until I saw him leave the sea,” the 49-year-old said.
“Then I saw something, the body, which I immediately interpreted as the most likely whale because of its size.”
Dall fixed the camera on the back of his kayak to shoot growing waves – which won the extraordinary experience of his son.
Looking back, Adrián – who moved with his father to Chile from Venezuela seven years ago in search of a better quality of life – was shocked to see how huge the whale was.
“I didn’t see the moment when my back appeared, and Peraja was visible. I didn’t see her, I heard it. That made me nervous,” he said.
“But later, with the video, I realized that he actually appeared before me in such a huge size that maybe I would see him, it would be even more scared.”
‘Physically impossible to swallow’
For Adrián, the experience was not just about survival – but he said he felt he had received a “second chance” when Kitov spit it.
The “unique” experience in one of the most extreme places on Earth “invited me to think about what I could do better by that moment, ao ways in which I can use experience and appreciate it,” he added.
But there is a simple reason that he managed to escape from the whale so quickly, according to an expert in wildlife.
The humpback whales have a narrow throat “approximately the size of a household pipe” intended for swallowing small fish and shrimp, said Brazilian Conservator Rochers Jacobson Seba for the BBC.
“They can’t physically swallow big objects such as kayaks, tires or even big fish like tuna,” he said.
“Ultimately, the whale spat in kayak because it was physically impossible to swallow.”
The coat of arms of the whale probably accidentally captured Adrián, Mr. Seba suggested.
“The whale probably fed the fish school when he inadvertently raised a kayak along with a meal.
“When whales are too fast during feeding, they can accidentally hit or swallow objects on their way.”
He warned that the encounter served as an “important reminder” to avoid using paddles, surfing boards or other quiet vessels in areas where whales usually swim.
The boats used to observe and research whales must always retain their engines, he added, because noise helps whales discover their presence.
Additional reporting Luis Barrucho and Maia Davies.
