Um, what actually happened to the kayaker swallowed by a whale after his dad filmed it?

If you’ve been on TikTok or Twitter today you might have watched in horror as a kayaker was swallowed by a humpback whale off the coast of Chile.

In the tense footage, which was verified by CNN, father and son duo Adrian and Dell Simancas enjoyed some time out on the water in Chile’s southernmost Patagonia region.

Dell was filming Adrian who was paddling along the Strait of Magellan before the enormous mouth of a humpback whale closed around him. For reference, the sea creatures can grow to 60 feet and possess rows of fibrous baleen plates instead of teeth.

Though the full clip is available, snippets on TikTok and Twitter cut off rather abruptly and seem to suggest that Adrian was never seen again. That wasn’t quite the case, and he’s since spoken to CNN.

The kayaker thought he was ‘going to die’ after being swallowed by the whale

In the full footage, you can clearly see that Adrian only spends a few moments in the gentle giant’s mouth before being returned to the surface in a flurry of bubbles and foamy water. The back of the whale then breaks the surface before returning to the depths.

“I thought it swallowed me,” Adrian says in the video.

In an interview with CNN following the traumatic event, Adrian explained how he thought he was a goner.

“When I turned around, I felt on my face like a slimy texture; I saw colours like dark blue, white, something approaching from behind that closed… and sank me,” he said. “At that moment, I thought there was nothing I could do, that I was going to die, I didn’t know what it was.”

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In perhaps the greatest example of why you should always wear a life jacket on the water, he said he felt his vest “pull me up, and then two seconds later I was back on the surface and then started understanding what happened.”

Though some people questioned why Dell continued to film even when his son was gobbled up, he said was initially filming the “pretty waves that seemed exciting” before hearing what he thought was a “strong wave hitting behind me.”

this guy is way more chill about being swallowed by a whale than I would be https://t.co/ahWdV5Xuxn

— Brandy Jensen (@BrandyLJensen) February 14, 2025

The dad added: “When I turn around, I don’t see Adrian or his pack raft, so I got worried, and around three seconds later I see he’s shot up to the surface and the pack raft after him.”

It’s not clear whether Adrian was taken to hospital for a check-up, but both father and son are not letting it stop them from further adventures. When asked whether they’d be returning to the area, they replied with a categorical “of course.”

In the same interview, animal scientist Vanessa Pirotta noted how the humpback whale was probably feeding on krill and accidentally scooped Adrian up in the process.

“These animals are not targeting human-sized prey. They don’t have the equipment to do what they need to do in order to devour a human,” she said.

Of course, this follows the story of a mermaid being bitten by a giant fish. They’re not related, it’s just strange that the ocean seems to be fighting back in February.

Featured image credit: CNN