Dolphin watching on your wedding anniversary? You may want to consider your annoying relatives instead
You know those family gatherings when somebody brings an uninvited guest that’s overly friendly and potentially clumsy, ending up destroying at least one valuable item in the host’s house? So did Chrissie and Dirk Frickman, and in order to avoid any damage, they decided to go on a quiet boat trip for their 18th wedding anniversary. Little did they know that while they were dolphin watching, one intruder would end up breaking something more valuable than that precious vase from China…
An unexpected show on the Boston whaler
Chrissie, Dirk, and their two children Tristan, 12, and Courtney, 16 were returning to Dana Point Harbour on their small family boat when they decided to stop and watch a pod of dolphins. Everybody knows dolphins are friendly, but the Frickmans had the misfortune of running into one that didn’t exactly have the notion of personal space. And this 350-pound dolphin went all the way and leapt onto their boat, delivering a least graceful acrobatic show when he landed on Chrissie’s ankles and broke them.
Into the wild
Nobody really knows what happened in the chaos that followed, but Dirk’s story seems to beat that of Liam Neeson fighting the wolves in Alaska in ‘The Grey’. Dirk claims that the dolphin “punched his daughter” and “hit his wife,” but didn’t kick anybody into the water. Not even Dirk, who had to pull his wife from underneath the scared animal. The dolphin remained on the boat, all covered in blood, with the rest of the family who rushed to the harbour. The dolphin watching experience ended up in a full clash between humans and nature.
The aftermath
Shocked, the Harbor Patrol at Dana Point released the dolphin after deciding that the few cuts he had under its tail and nose weren’t serious. They deemed the dolphin healthy enough to return back to the ocean. Unfortunately, the story didn’t end so soon for Chrissie and Courtney, who were taken to the hospital by the patrol officers. There, Chrissie spent another five hours while being treated for her broken ankles. Currently, she is recovering at home from the accident. No explanation was given for the dolphin’s misbehaviour as of yet, but maybe dolphin watching from very close distances is not the best idea. At least, not on family events. Let the kids bring down the house instead.
