﻿ Coming up! The Bird family flies south to the Turks & Caicos Islands
in search of an elusive dolphin named Jojo! Welcome to Jonathan Bird’s Blue World!
The Turks & Caicos Islands are probably most famous around the world for their beautiful
soft white sand beaches. The Turks & Caicos are a British Overseas Territory consisting of
40 islands located south of the Bahamas in the Caribbean. The most populated island
in the archipelago is Providenciales, known locally as Provo. The eastern end of Provo
has a system of canals leading out to the ocean. And just offshore, famously healthy coral reefs
full of marine life. One of the most famous residents of the reef on this end of the island,
is Jojo the dolphin, who has been living here--and occasionally interacting with
humans--since 1980, making him at least 45 years old. We are hoping to meet him.
It’s February in New England, so it’s time for the Bird family to fly
south on a little dive vacation. And only 4 hours later, we’re on the beach!
Welcome to Paradise! It’s not all just scuba diving! We spend a day driving jet skis,
where we discover a shipwreck. We go for a horseback ride, and of course we hit the beach.
Liam, let’s go snorkeling! Okay! Liam and Elise film a sea turtle. Not bad for freediving.
But tomorrow we’re going scuba diving! We head on over to BigBlue Collective, the dive shop right
down the street from our rental house. They have a whole fleet of boats for watersport activities,
not just scuba diving. But captain Roger is taking us out on the big dive boat!
We grab our gear from the car and then we meet divemaster Charlie who helps us load the boat.
Thanks to COVID, the kids haven’t put their gear together in over a year,
so I’m curious to see if they can remember how to do it. ….safety on this boat,
life jackets are under the seats here… We get a quick boat safety briefing and we’re off!
It has been windy this week, and the shallows are a little milky from the surf.
But out at the dive site, the water is a lot clearer.
At last, having escaped Massachusetts winter, it’s time to hit some tropical water! So this dive
site is called Eagle Ray Pass because sometimes we have Eagle rays that pass by. Fingers crossed we
will see some Eagle rays on this dive. Eagle rays would be nice, but we really hope to see Jojo!
We sink down to the reef and start looking around.
These reefs host lots of different kinds of sponges. Tube sponges are everywhere.
Hey everybody, have you subscribed? And so are big barrel sponges.
Charlie points out a crab hiding in the reef.
There are a lot of gorgonians, which are a kind of soft coral.
And sometimes you can find a brightly colored snail called a flamingo tongue on the gorgonian.
A Nassau grouper gives us an apprehensive look.
Then heads for safety.
Elise finds what must be the biggest barrel sponge on the reef. She could probably fit inside!
Christine finds a trumpetfish, normally shy
and hiding in the gorgonian. But this one seems curious about us.
A school of goatfish feeds out in the sand,
so when they are seen on the reef, it’s more of a social engagement.
A pufferfish leads us over to a deep ravine in the reef. Down below,
the silty water from the shallows is flowing through like a spooky river.
So of course, we have to go down there and check it out.
The kids notice that the gorgonians are bending in the current.
A big barrel sponge is growing horizontally out of the wall.
We follow another trumpetfish into a big patch of gorgonians.
Trumpetfish hide in these similarly-shaped structures.
Dolphins sometimes cuddle up to gorgonians for a tickle. Maybe Jojo will show up soon.
Elise has a good eye for details. She finds a well-camouflaged scorpionfish.
These fish are quite venomous and confident in their camouflage
so they rarely move, even when you film them up close.
Further down the ravine, we hit the sandy bottom and swim upcurrent.
I spot a moray eel under a ledge.
Unfortunately it won’t come out, even for Elise.
Liam finds a squirrelfish and porcupinefish.
Christine finds a parrotfish nibbling on the fuzzy algae growing on some coral.
Soon it’s time to head back to the boat, so we start our ascent.
We do a family safety stop under the boat with some company.
It was a great dive, even without Jojo. We untie the mooring line and start making our way back to
the dock, when suddenly a shape appears in the water. Is that a dolphin? There he is!
Jojo the famous dolphin comes right over to the boat to play in our wake. As Jojo has
gotten older, he has become less interested in playing with divers, but he still loves surfing!
He will hang with us for a long time if we stay near his part of the island.
But finally it’s time for us to leave and he goes back to his reef.
The Turks & Caicos Islands are a wonderful place to visit. There are plenty of things
to do, beautiful beaches and great diving for all experience levels.
And with a little luck you might get to meet Jojo!
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