Sam Amico
Jonah from the Bible was saved from drowning when he was swallowed by a whale, so his experience was a good thing.
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But for wildlife photographer Rainer Schimpf, it was apparently a somewhat scarier ordeal.
Schimpf was snorkeling off the African coast back in 2019 and attempting to photograph a magnificent run of sardines when everything suddenly went dark. His story is once again going viral because let’s face it, this is impressive. You don’t forget things like this.
Apparently, all he really knew was it was dark. He didn’t at first realize that, yes, he had been swallowed by a whale. For a moment, it was pure terror. But when it was over, Schimpf indicated he didn’t really have reason to be scared.
Diver Recounts Almost Being ‘Swallowed’ Alive By Massive Whale
“It took less than two seconds,” he told Today back then. “In that two seconds the first thing which I realised is that something grabbed me, pushed my hip together. I could feel the pressure and instantly knew it was a whale.
“My second thought was that obviously, it can’t swallow me, because the throat of the whale is not big enough to swallow a human. My next thought was it’s most likely going to dive down with me.”
“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.”
Remarkably, Schimpf said after the experience was over, he didn’t have so much as a scratch on his entire body.
Even Jonah may not have been able to make that claim.
