THE GUARDIAN
Feb 2025
‘I closed my eyes to brace for impact’: the man who escaped a whale’s mouth
Adrián Simancas had been paddling for two hours in the calm but icy seas of the Strait of Magellan, off the coast of Chilean Patagonia, when something massive emerged from the water and dragged him under.
“I saw dark blue and white colours before feeling a slimy texture brush against my face,” the 24-year-old told the Guardian. “I closed my eyes to brace for impact, but it was soft, like being hit by a wave.”
In an incredibly rare turn of events, Simancas had been sucked entirely into the mouth of a humpback whale. He closed his eyes and held his breath.
“When its mouth closed around me and pulled me down, I felt like I was in a whirlpool, lying down and spinning around,”he said. For a few fleeting moments, his fate was in the jaws of the 40-tonne cetacean. “If it had eaten me, I would’ve died. There was nothing I could do about it.”
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Hi, I'm Charis McGowan, a British-Caribbean writer based between London, UK, and Santiago, Chile.
I’ve been a regular news stringer in Chile for over eight years, contributing to outlets including The Guardian, Al Jazeera, the BBC, The Telegraph, and more. My work primarily focuses on human rights and social justice. Additionally, I am the former Music Editor-at-Large at gal-dem, where I wrote extensively about music and culture with a focus on Latin America and the Caribbean.
I’m open to commissions, collaborations, talks, and projects.
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Or email me at: charismcgowan at gmail.com