Surfing Instructor Saves Porpoise

By Noel Smith

Jessica Rodgers was at work at 10 a.m. on Thursday, August 13 teaching the Girl Scout Camp Butano Creek Wavecatchers how to surf for “Adventure Out” outdoor school at Beer Can Beach, which is not far from the end of Clubhouse Drive, when her class was suddenly interrupted. A pod of bottlenose dolphins appeared just offshore chasing and bullying a smaller sea mammal called a harbour porpoise. To get away from the dolphins –which have been known to kill them – the porpoise swam up onto the beach right next to Jessica’s class. She immediately went to its aid.

Jessica wanted to make sure that the porpoise was kept wet while it was on the beach and then to try help it get back into the water. With a lot of encouragement from the people in the vicinity, she finally managed to get the 150 lb porpoise back into the surf. Imagine her surprise when it immediately beached itself again!

Those bullies, the bottlenose dolphins — which weigh 500-600 lbs — were still close by and evidently, the porpoise felt safer on the beach being cared and comforted for by Jessica than getting back into the water and trying to get away from the pod.

When asked how long she cared for the porpoise Jessica said, “Not very long, maybe two minutes max because he was moving around a bit and it took me thirty seconds or so to stabilize him and turn him around before I could bring him into waist deep water. I wanted to avoid dragging him by his tail, so I had to wrap my arms around him and turn him around to make sure his pectoral fins didn’t get hurt.”

By this time, the dolphins had disappeared and the porpoise was again helped into the surf. The small porpoise eagerly, and with perhaps a slight wave of a flipper, swam away uninjured.

According to Wikipedia, the harbour porpoise (Phocoena phocoena) is one of six species of porpoise and one of the smallest marine mammals. As its name implies, it stays close to coastal areas, harbors, river estuaries and is evidently intelligent enough to seek Jessica’s help when needed.

The adventure was captured by professional photographer John ‘K’