"Stinky", the Cayman loner Dolphin - our encounter: "Stinky" is the poorly chosen name people in the Cayman Islands gave to the loner Dolphin which cruises "our" waters here since four years. He was expelled from his pod, maybe because of bad behavior.... who can tell... There have been many encounters over the years but the encounters seem to become more and more aggressive. This is probably because the Dolphin is now sexually mature and at the height of his "potential". But, being a loner Dolphin, he has no mate to court (there aren't many Dolphins in "our" waters). So he is becoming a sexually frustrated young male Dolphin. This makes it a bad idea to actively seek contact with him because he could use you as a mate (Dolphins are known for such behavior). Dolphins are also know to rape other Dolphin (males/females) and humans (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vfPZu5RbKM0) Loner Dolphins are known for their potential danger (http://www.wdcs.org/submissions_bin/Solitary_dolphin_statement_April08.pdf). So if you encounter a lonely Dolphin like "Stinky", do not get into the water. If you are in the water, leave as soon and safe as possible. If the Dolphin prevents you from getting out of the water (or ascending as a diver) and you are with a group: stay close together, that will leave the Dolphin less options. If the Dolphin decides to use you as a (sex) toy, you don't stand a chance. These are animals with 500 pound of pure muscle! They could shoot you to the surface, gently or at fast speed, putting a SCUBA diver in peril due to lung overpressure. They could grab you and take you down. In my case "Stinky" tried to keep me down on the ground which was, fortunately, only some 30 feet deep, next to a mini-wall of 85 feet depth. So as I hardly had bottom-time and had plenty of Nitrox, my life wasn't in danger from a DCI or Nitrox intoxication point of view. But what if I were at the wall, which goes all the way down to 6,000 feet? I think you know what I mean! I released this video to show people in Cayman that an encounter with "stinky" is not always a joy and could be potentially dangerous. I have edited this text because it seems like this video is going viral (wasn't my intention) and is being picked-up by international newspapers. They wrote some facts wrongly due to the way I wrote the initial comment. It was a copy-paste from a reaction on Facebook but was a source for misinterpretation on its own. If you are a journalist and have question about this video, please contact me at michaelmaes (at) me.com I am doing this because I love Dolphins and want to prevent people killing them because an accident happened out of human ignorance. We are in the realm of the animal. Their space, their rule. Be careful (Quote by Michael Aw). See pictures at http://www.facebook.com/media/set/?set=a.10151115968515502.454900.57415050 For more footage on Cayman underwater, check my Vimeo account at: http://vimeo.com/michaelmaes and Cayman underwater pictures at http://www.ellencuylaerts.com

• published: 04 Sep 2012
• views: 2263985