The dolphin had brought him close to the ocean floor where murky water & darkness prevented him
from seeing very well. He felt vulnerable and unsafe. As he realized how far he had dived,
he felt a wave of fear. His heart raced. Then, the dolphin made a burst of clicks and squeals
urgently, and pointed her nose towards him; his jaw dropped as she shined her flashlight on him.
As a first responder Navy seal diver Denis Rusk is used to dropping everything at the touch of
a button and diving straight towards a familiar sense of danger. But this rescue mission would
be a bit different. It was late evening by the time Denis got a call to prepare for
a rescue operation along the California coast. He was greeted by his team of rescue divers, as
he reached the scene. They already had everything loaded into the boat. He hopped on and immediately
started to change into his wetsuit and gear. As he dressed, the team filled him in on details of
the rescue mission. Little did they know they were missing one crucial piece of information?
A man had been reported missing after his frantic wife called the station when he failed to return
from his usual two-hour excursion at 7 AM that morning Dennis listened as he fastened his
oxygen tank around his waist. The missing man was sailing in a white fisherman's boat named Cesar.
That was last seen at 7:30 AM. It didn't look good. With no
time to lose Dennis and his team of divers secured their gear and flipped into the ocean,
One by one, like clockwork. His heart quickened as the cold ocean engulfed him.
His adrenaline pumping as he switched into rescue mode. He prepared himself
for the unknown scenes ahead, but there was no preparing for something like this.
It was about 20 minutes before Dennis realized there was a dolphin that seemed interested in him
and his team. Another 10 minutes passed by before he realized that this dolphin was actually
following them. The wild dolphin swam close to him. Dennis remembered being amused at how
friendly it was, But with the rescue mission at hand, he paid little attention to it.
It was his first mistake. His second mistake was calling the rescue mission off when they
kept coming up empty. Hope dwindled as the ocean settled into darkness. Now he had to think about
his own team's safety. Caught between a rock and a hard place. He ordered the team to swim back to
base, but on his way back, something went wrong. Dennis started to notice that the dolphin was
acting more and more strangely. She was following them all this time, but now her movements became
more frantic. She'd swim towards one direction and swim back to Dennis. She was pacing. Curious,
Dennis decided to swim towards her. But just as he did, she turned, now Dennis was sure,
she wanted him to follow her. With his Torchlight in hand,
Dennis swam behind her, as she led the way down into the dark depths of the unforgiving ocean.
As he swam, he wondered if he should call for backup, but he was too intrigued. It was as though
the dolphin had lured him especially, she wanted to show him something. But Dennis had no idea
what kind of situation she was bringing him into. It felt eerie now. She had brought him close to
the ocean floor where the murky water and darkness made it almost impossible to see. A sudden wave of
fear washed over Dennis, as he realized how far he'd come. His heart was racing, When the dolphin
made a sudden burst of clicks and squeals. Frantically, he shined his light towards her.
His jaw dropped. Out of the murky dark water, read the letters.
Seasar, it was the missing fisherman's boat. Astonished he froze as the seriousness of the
situation hit him. Reacting to his stillness the dolphin swam up to Dennis as if telling him to
hurry up. Dennis stares wide-eyed at the dolphin regathers his senses and swims into action.
What he'd find next would send his head spinning. The dolphin led him to the window
of the shipwreck, Dennis followed and pressed his face up against the window in an attempt to
see what was inside. To his amazement, he found a man looking directly back at him,
his eyes tearing his face covered in relief. It was the man he was looking for. but how?
incredibly an air pocket had formed in the one room boat. John Welch was taking his
boat out for his usual two-hour leisurely spin around the coast. When winds caused
him to crash into a rugged submerged rock, the impact was so sudden that the boat sank
so quickly leaving behind a large air pocket. Big enough for him to survive comfortably and
shout for help. He describes what happened next. “I thought my time was numbered.
All I could do was shout for help. That's when I saw the dolphin, it swam up to the
window here and just stared at me for a couple of seconds before it swam off again”, he recalled.
“I thought it was the last thing I would see before it kept returning.
It returned to me three times before it returned again with a rescuer,” He continue. “I owe my life
to that dolphin”, He tearfully exclaimed. Dennis called down the rest of his team and continued to
return Dennis safely to his wife and kids. The dolphin now hailed as a hero,
hung around to see the job done. Dennis said that the wild dolphin actually saved
his life by being able to communicate with him somehow. That sure is a great story?