Another amazingly unusual dolphin

[Captain Fred Archer]

Ace's post about the small spotted dolphin that followed alongside his boat for forty miles prompted this excerpt from the novel, Grim Ripper. I had some amazing experiences with a dolphin of the same species down in Cabo, only she was a very old one. She has a heavy role throughout the book. This is how I met the one I came to name Lily.

Be forewarned! This is long. It is a chapter from a book and is not for those who don't enjoy reading, even tales of the sea and its creatures. So please, if you don't care for long posts, ignore this one.

Ace, I'm pretty sure that you will enjoy it.

From Chapter Three of Book One of Grim Ripper...

Chapter Three

Sweet Lily

The old female dolphin with the missing dorsal fin that Ripper is following south is one that I knew from Cabo. I named her Lily because in my eyes at least, she was beautiful, like the flower I named her after.

Most would characterize dolphins as cute, not beautiful. Lily got her name because of the beauty of her behavior, not her physical looks. She was far from a traditional beauty of any kind. A tuna seiner had cut off her dorsal fin years before when she was being taken out of a net. She also bore many nets scars that detracted from her looks and spoke of the many times she had been netted and close to death.

Lily was a spotted dolphin, a normally handsome animal with numerous light grey spots scattered all over their bodies in a haphazard pattern. She was an exception as far as spots were concerned. She was so old when I first met her over ten years ago that she had lost all of them. Her spots had disappeared and she was a three toned color of a light and a darker grey with a white belly. She was very old and it showed.

No one knows how old wild dolphins get. Biologists estimate that they may live for fifty years or even longer if they manage to avoid dying in the tuna nets, where literally millions of them have already died and huge numbers of them are still dying. I guessed that Lily was well over fifty years old. How she had avoided death from the tuna fishermen for the past several decades was a miracle of sorts. I would never know how she accomplished this.

I met her one day when I was out alone, drifting along fishing for yellowfin tuna with live bait. A large pod of spotted dolphins had passed by about a quarter of a mile from me about five minutes before she appeared. I was standing in one side of the cockpit with a bait out.

The fishing had slowed down and I was staring into the water daydreaming about something when she popped her head out of the water right in front of me and started bobbing her head up and down, just like the dolphins in marine parks do. Then she started squeaking away in dolphin-speak. She wasn’t three feet from the side of the boat. I couldn’t believe it!

I could see that she was a very old one and noticed the sliced-off dorsal fin and net scars right away. I can remember thinking, here’s a dolphin that those tuna bastards have cut the fin off of and she still trusts humans. That’s pretty amazing.

I answered her squeaks by saying, “Hello, old girl. What are you up to?” Her answer was an excited series of squeaks before she dove under the water and bounced back out, doing a complete back flip before she landed! She swam quickly back to the boat after the jump and then stuck her head out of the water and squeaked at me some more.

I was amazed at what seemed to be her reaction to my voice and said to her, “You know what, old girl? I think that jump deserves a reward! Here you go!” I reached into the live bait tank and took out a mackerel to throw to her. My amazement continued when she obviously saw the mackerel in my hand and reacted by squeaking even more and raising her body at least half way out of the water.

I flipped the mackerel into the air and Lily jumped and caught it in mid-air. She gobbled the offering down and then, in a seeming show of appreciation, zoomed around the stern of my boat jumping and spinning like some kind of wild thing.

At this my black lab Shadow Girl came out of the salon where she had been napping in the shade. She put her front paws on the gunnel alongside of me and saw Lily, who had just returned and stuck her head out the water again. Shadow had seen a lot of dolphin on a near-daily basis and she was always nonplussed over them, but this time was different.

She started wagging her tail and body like she did whenever she saw Cleo, her mother. She whined and carried on like crazy, as if she understood the dolphin’s squeaky talk and was trying to answer. I said to Shadow, “What’s she saying, girl? You understand her, don’t you?” At this Shadow looked at me, barked and then dropped down on all fours and began to run around the cockpit, barking her head off.

Then the most amazing thing of all happened. Shadow had a favorite toy that she simply would not allow another dog to touch. In fact, there were very few humans she would allow to touch it. It was an old softball that she had found somewhere and brought home with her one night. Unlike her other toys, she didn’t chew the ball up and destroy it. Instead, she carried it around with her anywhere she went and fetched it when I threw it for her. I was the only one that she allowed to touch that special ball. And woe is be for any other dog that tried to touch it.

I was surprised when Shadow darted into the salon and returned with that precious ball in her mouth. This wasn’t that unusual. She often grabbed the ball when she got excited, so I didn’t think too much of it.

Then Shadow came back alongside me, put her paws on the gunnels and whined loudly. I really started wondering what was going on when the dolphin seemed to get as excited as Shadow when she saw the ball. Then Shadow flipped her head and actually tossed the ball into the water next to the dolphin (to this day she can and does throw her balls with a toss of her head)! This was no accident. She had intentionally tossed that ball into the water as if saying, “Here’s my favorite toy. It’s really neat. Would you like to play with it?”

Now I was utterly flabbergasted by what I was seeing! I could not imagine what had possessed Shadow to drop her most favored possession in the water in the first place, let alone when this new creature was alongside!

What happened next was just as astounding. First the dolphin jumped over the ball a couple of times, then she grabbed it in her mouth and carried it off a ways before leaping out of the water, dropping the ball at the top of her leap and catching it again in the air before either she or the ball hit the water! Then she returned to the boat with the ball in her mouth and dropped it right in front of me.

I reached over and plucked the ball from the water and gave it to back Shadow, who repeated her act of charging all over the cockpit trying to bark but only succeeding in whining because of the ball in her mouth.

I couldn’t believe what I was seeing! I grabbed the last mackerel out of the bait tank and just before flipping it to the dolphin I had an idea for a final test of the seeming connection between her and my dog. I called Shadow to my side, had her put her forepaws up on the gunnel and gave her the mackerel. Being a real sea dog, she has a great love for the freshest of sashimi and a live bait is a special treat for her, one that she will fight any other dog or pelican for.

When she saw Shadow with the mackerel in her mouth the dolphin got even more excited than the first time when I was holding the bait fish. She raised her body well out of the water and squeaked away furiously, just as she had the first time. In an act that was diametrically opposed to her nature, Shadow shook her head and tossed the bait to the dolphin. It caught the bait in mid-air and gobbled it down, and then put on another display of jumping and spinning for us, accompanied by wild barking and tail wagging by my canine partner.

A short time later and after a final wild show of leaping and mad squeaking the old dolphin left us and headed south. As I followed her happy leaps away from us I noticed that the large pod she had been traveling with was milling around a half mile away. They were obviously waiting for her. Then it dawned on me that she was their leader and while they were apparently leery about approaching humans, she was not. Either that or she had somehow told them to wait while she came to visit us, I couldn’t say which.

Why Lily acted like she did is beyond me. Spotted dolphins don’t do well in captivity and aren’t trained for dolphin shows anywhere, so she couldn’t be an escaped show dolphin. She was a purely wild one and I have no explanation for why she acted like she did. I am just utterly thankful to have "met" her and seeing what I did that day.

I would tell you that this was the last time I saw Lily, but that wouldn’t be true. Her actions and physical appearance made her stand out from all of the other dolphins and I saw her on many occasions while we were just running somewhere and on several occasions when we were catching tunas among dolphins. Shadow never threw her ball to Lily again, but the dolphin did approach the boat closely on several other occasions, thrilling our customers and us. And Shadow, of course!

The connection between Lily and Ripper came to me one day when we were catching tuna among a huge group of dolphin pods. Lily had just found us and was approaching while one of my anglers was just about to land a large tuna. I had to remain in my tuna tower to maneuver the boat during the last part of the fight and couldn’t go down to the cockpit to greet Lily. Shadow was there, though, her paws up on the gunnels and she was doing lot’s of barking and whining.

She and Lily were facing each other and my passengers were taking pictures and exclaiming over the gentle dolphin and the seeming connection between it and the dog when the big mako came.

I was looking at the tuna that was a mere twenty feet behind us and about ten feet down when the shark hit it. It was the classic strike-from-below and the mako flew up into the air after cleaving the tail off of our tuna.

The flying shark electrified and terrified the passengers down below! They were running around yelling and hollering at the tops of their lungs.

The angler had forgotten all about his tuna and had stopped reeling it in, so the inevitable happened. The mako returned and began slicing off big mouthfuls of our tuna.

There was nothing that any of us could do but watch, which was fine as far as I was concerned. We already had our limit of tuna and would have released this one if we caught it anyway. Once I convinced them that it wasn’t after them, watching that big mako feed was far more interesting for me and the passengers.

It was while I was watching the shark feed that I noticed that Lily was circling and watching it. She showed curiosity, not aggression while she was doing this and it dawned on me that the intelligent mammal knew the mako. This mako was like the tunas and was traveling along with Lily’s pod.

And so I decided that the other mako in this tale, Grim Ripper, would also travel with Lily and her family. And so, we shall meet her again.

For as long as each of them managed to avoid their mutual enemy, man, some of whom spent every day hunting for them.

[CaptGorges]

I enjoyed the read, thanks for sharing.

[Ace1st]

Yes.....your reads are always a pleasure Fred. Thanks for putting it up.

[Captain Michael Buffington]

You have a way with words Fred.

Mike

[Roddy Hays]

Very nice, Freddly. Thank you.

[Captain Fred Archer]

Thanks, gents.

Roddy may not recall it, but the man himself appears in Chapter One of Book Three..."To The Ends of The Earth and Back" entitled "Voyage to the Volcanic Isles".

Here's part of that chapter...

It was mid-afternoon when Ripper's receptors began picking up signals of a marlin in great distress. The impulses she received told of an extremely excited one with all of its body systems operating at maximum capacity. This, in turn, created a burst of electrical energy and sound that she picked up from far away.

She sensed a marlin jumping repeatedly and thrashing on the surface. And there were other sounds coursing through the water. They were strange, unfamiliar, but exciting ones. Something of great power was tearing up the surface in a new and unknown way off in the distance.

It was a deep, rumbling noise accompanied by a ripping sound that varied in pitch, sometimes just a steady rumble, other times screaming like a banshee!

As usual, her body began to prepare to launch an attack as she sped toward the area where the signals were coming from.

As she closed she sensed Pandemonium on a grand scale!

She saw the marlin for a moment, and then lost it when it launched into a series of wild, greyhounding leaps, striking the water one moment, then leaving it again seconds later.

The water around the wildly cavorting fish had been churned white from the many jumps. But it had been whipped up even more by the growling monster that seemed to be chasing the hysterical fish. The monster was close now and its powerful vibrations literally pounded into her body!

The sound didn’t scare her. It did just the opposite; it excited her! She could not know what was causing the great disturbance and besides, she had now crossed the scent trail of the marlin and knew that it was not only excited, it was injured!

Her instincts instantly shifted into the killing mode and she swung toward the marlin. Her role as a great harvester of large fish was about to be fulfilled once again.

The people in the thirty-five foot Bertram called, “Sunrise Glory” had no idea that she was closing in on the fish that they had hooked. They too were excited. They were competing in a major international light tackle marlin tournament. This was the last hour of the last day and they were in the lead. This fish would seal the prestigious victory for them.

The skill of the angler, a seasoned professional from El Salvador everyone called “Paco”, and the world-class crew made the landing of the marlin a near foregone conclusion.

Soon, captain Roddy Harris’ mate, nicknamed Mikey-Mike, would grab the heavy leader in his thickly gloved hand. Then he would lead the fish within range of the tagging stick and the tag would be jabbed into the marlin’s shoulder. Finally, the hooks would be removed and the marlin released before the triumphant boat returned to shore.

The boat’s big, twin Caterpillar diesel engines and dual propellers made the rumbling sounds Ripper heard and felt as they strained and tore at the water when Roddy backed down hard in reverse during the times the fish was on the surface. He was trying to get close enough for Mikey to grab the leader and end the battle.

They were getting closer and closer each time the frantic billfish came to the top and jumped. Paco expertly fought the fish, regaining lost line every time he had a chance. He really wanted to get this one and seal the victory for his team. It wouldn’t be his first time in the winner’s circle and he really like that feeling.

The crew grew more and more excited as they sensed that the end was near. The victory clinching marlin would soon be theirs!

Ripper had sensed the very same feeling, that she too was close to catching the marlin, but she was having a difficult time getting a clear shot at it. This only served to increase her excitement, as an escaping mouse does a cat’s!

Twice she had been forced to abort an attack run when the wild activity on the surface suddenly changed.

The second time had been a near disaster! One moment she had been hurtling through the water at the marlin and the next, something warned her to break off her attack and veer sharply to the left. As she turned she passed within inches of the furiously spinning, potentially meat-cleaving propellers of Sunrise Glory!

The ancient forces that controlled her could not have known about such things as spinning, death-dealing props and backing down boats. The only thing that saved her from being chopped up in the deadly blades was a primordial response to some great “thing” closing in on top of her.

Perhaps her genetic "memory" harkened back to hundreds of millions of years before, when great predatory beasts roamed seas that are now dry land. Beasts big and fierce enough to attack and kill the biggest modern day mako that swims.

Whatever it was, it had ignited a response at the last moment and had caused her to make the life saving turn. But she was seen as she flashed by the side of the boat!

“Shark! Shark!” yelled Mikey! “I just saw a big mako boil on the port corner! It’s gotta be after the marlin! Come on, Roddy, hammer those throttles down and let’s go get our fish before that damned shark bites it!”

They all knew that the marlin wouldn’t count in the tournament if the shark bit it. Mutilated fish, including those bitten by sharks, didn’t count in this contest. Their on-board observer, if he saw a wounded fish, would instantly disqualify it.

The frantic marlin remained on the surface, jumping away from the rumbling monster that was a mere forty feet behind it. The boat was closing fast. Mikey stretched out over the stern covering boards, twice coming within inches of grabbing the leader.

This was a dangerous maneuver, for if he happened to fall overboard while they were backing down he’d be chopped into hamburger by the propellers. But he didn’t even think about that. His job was to get that leader in his hands and he was willing to risk just about anything to do it!

The marlin wasn’t aware of Ripper yet, even though she had been forced to break off two more attacks at the last minute. Both times, the frantic billfish had jumped unexpectedly and eluded her. The third time she missed, both the marlin and the whole crew saw her!

As she burst from the water a mere foot to the left of the marlin, everyone on Sunset Glory started yelling and screaming. Roddy shouted to his angler, “Reel like hell, Paco!” To his mate he said, “Get that leader Mikey, or that damned shark is going to get our fish! Gawd what a big one!”

Mikey ignored him. He would get the leader the second the fish gave him a chance. He put the five hundred pounds of muscle and teeth that had just jumped out of the water directly behind the boat out of his mind, just as he had the propellers below and continued to reach for the elusive leader.

The marlin had seen her when she brushed by him before blasting out of the water. When he finally saw her his already panicked state passed into a new stage that can only be described as the very highest level of abject terror!

He immediately spun away from the surface and dove to run from her. This propelled him into deeper water that hadn’t been clouded by his jumps or the spinning propellers. He had made a terrible mistake.

He was now a clear target!

She took him in a non-typical attack from above, diving down on him and tearing the back portion of his body off with one convulsive crunch of her great jaws and horrible fangs.

The marlin wiggled madly while she sped away from his still dangerous, wildly swinging bill. Forty feet away, she turned and came back ready to circle cautiously around him, as she always did to be sure that her prey was safe enough to feed on.

But he wasn’t there! Incredibly, she spotted him swimming up the trail of turbulent water toward the great creature on the surface that had been pursuing both her and the marlin only moments before. She charged after her kill. She would allow nothing to take it from her! Not even a great monster such as this one!

Mikey was hand-lining the dying marlin to the slowly moving boat. Roddy said, “Come on, Mikey, get that fish in here before that damned mako gets back! That bloody ***** may have just cost us the tournament and I’ll be damned if I’m gonna let her keep her meal!”

END OF EXCERPT...AND YES, THIS ISN'T OVER YET, IS IT, RIPPER?!

[HOLWACHAGOT]

Thanks Captain Fred for the good read.....keep em coming!
Holwachagot