Whales are beautiful animals, they’re elegant and strong. Whales are gentle creatures that need protecting.
The incident
Rainier Schimpf is a deep-sea diver and also he is the director of Dive Experts Tours. In a particular day, he was swimming just off the coast of Port Elizabeth Harbour which is located in the east of Cape Town. Somehow, he was picked up in the mouth of a whale. This frightening moment was taken on film as he and a group were documenting a sardine run. Initially, Schimpf was able to notice that the water was churning around him, suddenly he was being sucked into the mouth of a Bryde whale. Research suggests that Bryde’s whales spend most of the day within 50 feet of the water’s surface. They commonly swim at one to four miles per hour but can reach speeds of 12 to 15 miles per hour. They dive for about 5 to 15 minutes, with a maximum dive duration of 20 minutes, and can reach depths up to 1,000 feet. Fortunately, Schimpf was able to escape from the large mammal’s mouth and he was able to survive his life from this fatal situation.
What happened?
On this day, Schimpf and his team members had divided into two groups in order to document a sardine, the objective was to attracts a variety of sea life, including seals, dolphins, penguins, sharks, and whales. Totally, the team was 25 nautical miles from shore when Schimpf began to recognize the water was churning. After a while, he was in a whale’s mouth. So no wonder, his team was shocked by looking at the fatal situation
Schimpf was filming a shark Just before he was swallowed. According to his experience, he realized that he went inside to a dark area and he felt the huge beast grab his body.
“There was no time for fear or any emotion,” he told The Daily Telegraph.
“I knew instantly what had happened. I knew that a whale had come and taken me and I instinctively held my breath, assuming that it would dive down again and spit me out somewhere in the depths of the Indian Ocean.”
“I felt enormous pressure around my waist, which is when I guess the whale realized its mistake,” he added.
“As the whale turned sideways, it opened its mouth slightly to release me and I was washed out, together with what felt like tons of water, of his mouth, while the whale itself swallowed all the fish in its throat.” He added
As per his colleagues on the boats, who was not able to do anything but to observe, a white spray came up out of the water before the whale emerged and spat Schimpf back out. He was then able to return to the boat. Luckily, he was unhurt.
It is one of the frightening moments where anyone can feel. Schimpf was also one of the luckiest people as he wasn’t harmed in any way. Imagine, if it was you, what will you do?
For more related incidents: Giant Humpback Whale Jumps Next To A Fishing Boat
I am a Business Management graduate from the University Of Staffordshire (UK) and a qualified personnel officer who completed the National Diploma of Training and Human Resource development at Institute of Personnel Management (Sri-Lanka).
Apart from my professional career in the field of HRM, I am also a freelance writer of web and business contents.
