Wednesday, January 21, 2015

Big Gash Day Six

Hi All,
The wind has swung around a little more from the East, which flattens the waves. On our first pass down past all the resorts, we don't see JoJo, I figure that's either good news he's swimming further or bad news, something happened. As we came back, we see him fishing out in front of 7 Stars. Now, this is great news. I don't believe he's had much to eat in 5 days. Dolphins normally eat from 15 to 20 lbs. a day. We follow along until he goes to circle a buoy. Here we drop anchor and I get in to take some more gash footage. He comes over to our boat and stays for about an hour then moves off slowly past the resorts toward Ocean Club. Before reaching Club Med, he turns out toward the reef. I get in and swim beside him as he goes almost to the reef. Once he reaches his destination, he comes back to Spy Hop. We think he wants to rest so we drop anchor. John has a good perspective from the boat and has learned to read JoJo's signals. JoJo rests as he slowly circles our boat for about three hours. He then goes to visit a tour boat. Luckily it's a respectful captain who lets his passengers see the famous JoJo without chasing or crowding him. It's a good sign that he's more interactive but, he's still traveling much slower than normal. As the cuts heal, it's making it easier for him to use his fluke (tail) which is how he propels himself through the water. JoJo then goes towards shore to fish.
Earlier I heard from Jill that the government approved the swim with the dolphins program. The people of Turks and Caicos have fought hard to keep this from happening. There are lots of bumper sticks that say JOJO SAYS NO TO CAPTIVE DOLPHINS. I have been asked to do an interview with Darron a reporter for a local TV station. Now's my chance to not only ask the captains to be careful around JoJo but to tell them many reasons why the captive dolphin program is a bad thing.
I have decided to point out that the island slogan, "Beautiful By Nature" totally goes against the idea of captive marine life. If you are on island and want to watch it (I'm a bit nervous to watch it not being so great in front of a camera, apparently that's not passed through the genes:)it will air on the Wednesday night news on channel 8.

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