We come out of Leeward with Byron Dean at the helm. I'm watching anxiously hoping we will find JoJo early on our last day.
We make one pass up and back from Leeward to Smith Reef. Just as we start back I see a dorsal then another dorsal. JoJo comes right to our boat as he so often does. He heads for the back indicating he wants a ride toward Beaches. I don't think he'll leave the other dolphin but he stays right behind us all the way to Beaches. He branches off to put on a show for the tourists at Beaches Resort. First he goes right up to the beach so everyone sees him. He then swims around a kayaker and off to a Hobie Cat. Everyone's going nuts yelling "There's JoJo" the king has come:))
I'm hoping this will be the opportunity for James my horse friend to get in and meet him. I hop in and swim over to him as we head out toward the dive boat I see a buoy! I know I can detain him with a game of bang the buoy. Success! JoJo is watching me kick the buoy as he hangs vertically in the water. James catches up and gets some great video of JoJo hanging right beside him!
JoJo tires of the game and heads off toward the reef. I climb in Spy Hop and we follow along. Soon we see another dorsal and I now understand why he wanted to hang around Beaches. He was waiting for this dolphin to catch up, she didn't use the JoJo taxi service! JoJo comes to the boat that's my signal to get in. I head over to the other dolphin who I see take off, pumping her fluke in hot pursuit of a fish. She comes back and crater fishes right below me. She is persistent pushing her rostrum way into the sand then pushing the sand along to see if she can find the fish. She comes up and greets me. I'm sure we have met by how friendly she is. I think it is Julia who had a calf I called Frisky. She has a slight scar on her side which is her only distinguishing mark. She goes back to her crater fishing then comes back to me. The water is crystal clear and if I hadn't broken the camera that is in my mask I would be getting some great footage!!
Off she goes and where is JoJo? Soon we see him leaping out of the wake of a parasail boat! The captain wipes his boat in circles. His passengers are having quite the show as JoJo leaps out of the big wake. Soon he swims off from the parasail boat, my chance has come. We have a long leisurely swim that ends up with some major scratching in the finger coral. There just isn't anything better than diving down beside JoJo who is looking right at me as we skim along the bottom. JoJo, occasionally rolls lazily in the sand. First scratching one side then the other. https://vimeo.com/user38911674/review/132044473/08a7c32927
Now he wants a ride and we head toward Crystal Bay with JoJo in our wake. The gauge was closing in on empty so we decided seeing we were near Turtle Cove Marina maybe we'd better fill up.
The time has come to bid JoJo a farewell. I hate leaving so very much but feel privileged to have had three great days with this amazing dolphin. I will be scheming how to get back before November my next scheduled trip.
