‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ features Cape Cod lobster diver Michael Packard back in whale’s mouth - MassLive.com
Michael Packard, the Cape Cod lobster diver who said he was held in the mouth by a humpback whale off Provincetown, was invited to share his experience on 'Jimmy Kimmel Live!' on Wednesday.
Joined by his colleague, Josiah Mayo, the two shared the shocking tale.
The pair started the day as normal, doing a couple of dives and collecting a couple hundred pounds of lobster. When Packard went down for the next dive, Mayo saw him drift away from the boat. He then saw a huge boil slashing over the water. He thought it was a shark attack at first, but then saw whale parts and his friend's feet as he escaped.
Packard described descending towards the bottom of the ocean, about 35 feet before he was hit hard. He saw darkness and started moving quickly through the water. He thought it was a shark at first, but during his 30-40 seconds in the whale's mouth, he picked up on some context clues to figure out what was happening.
Packard began to struggle and kick, saying he knew he wouldn't escape unless the whale let him go. He was "suddenly thrown from his mouth" and when he resurfaced, Mayo called 911.
After first responders were contacted, Mayo reached out Packard's wife, who said she had to call him back to make sure she understood what happened.
They all agreed it was a pretty unbelievable occurrence.
"That's one of the cool things about this story is that it happened to someone like Michael with his reputation. If it was some yahoo then all we'd be doing is arguing about whether it happened or not," Mayo said.
Kimmel noted this was not Packard's first near death experience, having survived a plane crash with fatalities, been face-to-face with great white sharks and discovering a body in the ocean.
For the interview, the show asked Packard to sit in a throne designed as a whale's mouth, which he said he had some apprehension about.
"I was like, 'No way am I getting in it. I'm going back to Cape Cod," Packard said.
The show passed along a few gifts to Packard as well, including a DVD of the movie, Free Willy, a can of Mo-Begone whale repellent, a "Kiss me I got swallowed by a whale shirt" and a Fudgie the Whale cake that "has a guy inside of him," according to Kimmel.
"I want to apologize to the whale for getting in his way and I won't ever do it again," Packard joked.
The interview wrapped up with Packard promoting his business, Wellfleet Shellfish Company.
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