In the shark-filled waters off Cape Cod, Michael Packard, the region’s last-remaining commercial lobster diver, has long tempted fate. For several months a year, Packard buckles on his scuba tank and plunges into the cold waters to hunt on the seafloor. The aging father has had his share of harrowing experiences, which include close encounters with great whites, nearly drowning, and having to pull up the body of a fellow diver. He even survived a plane crash in the jungles of Costa Rica, where he ran a charter fishing business. But what happened to him on a routine dive during a clear June morning was something he never imagined possible. In an experience of biblical proportions, Packard was engulfed by a humpback whale, lost in a pitch-black captivity, in which he expected to die. The survival story spread around the world, but what came after the limelight dimmed was even more significant for Packard.

 

David Abel is a Pulitzer Prize winning filmmaker for he and his colleagues’ coverage of the Boston Marathon Bombing. His recent work, “In the Whale,” premiered in the fall of 2023 at the New Hampshire Film Festival, where it won the Audience Choice Award. The 81-minute film also won Best New England Film at the Mystic Film Festival.

 

See it for yourself on the big screen - one night only! Tickets, $10 adult, $8 member, and $5 youth 18 and under, are available in advance through the Lincoln Theater’s online box office at LincolnTheater.net and are also available at the door beginning 30 minutes before showtime. Lincoln Theater is located at 2 Theater St. in the heart of downtown Damariscotta. More information is available by contacting the theater office by email at info@LincolnTheater.net or by phone at 563-3424.