Osprey - 5-18-2012 at 06:28 AM
Woody, for you I reprise the dolphin tale.
Smart Dolphins
It is a widely known fact that dolphin and yellowfin tuna often feed together – act as a team to corral shoals of bait fish, keep them balled up, keep
them surrounded while they pick them off. Sea of Cortez fishermen react quickly when they see herds of dolphin in the area; usually the captain speeds
toward the surface action while the other fishermen ready the tuna lures, end-tackle and bait. I’ve been the captain myself since I bought a panga ten
years ago and I’m used to the routine, know a lot of tricks to pick up my share of tasty, hard fighting yellowfin tuna feeding below and often ahead
of the dolphin.
Spinner dolphin are the ones the fishermen are hoping to find. They are believed to be the ones most likely to be feeding with the tuna – common,
white-sided, spotted, bottle-nosed and others might come upon tuna feeding so most fishermen will never pass up a few quick explorations into the
surface action no matter what breed they find themselves surrounded by.
No matter what specie one encounters, if the herds are made up of thousands of animals, there will likely be lots of acrobatics as individuals leap up
to survey the movement of the herd, any far-off nervous water which might signal more food. The leap-to-look routine is made necessary because
echo-location becomes garbled and impossible in the middle of a huge armada of milling mammals. It seems truly amazing that these large animals can
move with such quickness and grace they are able (as far as I know) to stay clear of the prop on my commercial Johnson 55 as I race through the herd
trolling my deepest running feathers and tuna plugs. Hundreds ride the bow, roll up to see who has entered their world, brought them trouble and
danger as they try to feed.
Beyond the little help I get from these animals when I’m fishing, I don’t really credit them with para-normal abilities, the hype about telepathy,
affinity, the healing influence they have had on adults, children, the impaired, etc. As a child I never watched Flipper on T.V. and I generally
change channels when a dolphin program comes on. I was mildly interested in the fact that a nearby beach resort town is now home to a large
Dolphinarium and I was not in the least surprised when I learned they charge almost $170 U.S. for 45 minutes swimming around, petting the slimy
things. Some friends from the states went for the hype, spent the big bucks – overall they said they enjoyed the experience but more than one person
was appalled at the commercialism – they allow no cameras and charge an arm and a leg for photos of you, the dolphin and little Ricky.
About a month ago, Larry, a friend from the states, came down to visit and having heard all about the new dolphinarium, The Dolphin Delight, he was
hell-bent on giving it a try. I couldn’t talk him out of it and after a nice morning ride to the resort city, a few cold Pacificos, it was he who
talked me into going! Well, I knew just what to expect so we breezed right through the indoctrination. I guess I acted a little smug, being a local
and all. Then it was time to get in the water.
Well, Larry went first and he was having a ball with the animals – one of the attendants helped me over the side and several of the big beasts came my
way (rather menacing I can say now) and without any hesitation started nipping me. Biting, taking small chunks out of my toes, my knee; one was busy
trying to untie the strap on my life jacket while two others were trying to pull me into deeper water, away from the side of the pool by pulling on
the jacket. I was yipping and flailing and once the handlers saw how much blood was in the water all around me they pulled me clear and back up out
of the water – two of the beasts came nipping right up after me onto the slippery lip of the big pool.
I got plenty of first aid, Larry went back in when he knew I was going to be OK, did his full 45 minutes. It took me another one hour and 40 minutes
of haggling, demanding and threatening to get my $170 bucks back. Naturally the managers, the handlers swore a hundred ways that they have never had
the animals act in this way, not one person had been attacked in this or any other way; they could not explain the actions of the animals and
suggested it might be something about me, something I represented, some smell, some imperceptible body language, something I did that got them going.
On the drive home I took some kidding from Larry and actually took the time to think about what might have caused the attack. Could the animals have
been captured around here? Could it be possible I crossed paths with these creatures while fishing? Can they just net and capture these creatures,
haul them off to some fancy water park? Aren’t there laws against that?
Well, I still have my doubts about just how smart dolphin are. They are sensitive creatures, I’ll tell you that.
woody with a view - 5-18-2012 at 06:50 AM
Love it! man-eating dolphin!!!
That just made my day!
Good'un, Dude!
Mulegena - 5-18-2012 at 07:26 AM
Udo - 5-18-2012 at 08:14 AM
Attentively involving writing, George!
The same dolphin patterns are followed in Baja Norte, both of Ensenada.