00:02We're 30 miles from the nearest land, 25 feet underwater, trying to establish contact with a school of dolphins I've
00:11known for more than 20 years.
00:15Using a computer especially designed to work underwater, we're broadcasting dolphin sounds into an apparently empty ocean.
00:25It appears to be a fool's errand.
00:29But the sounds are answered.
00:41This is the continuation of a conversation begun 20 years earlier, when Hardy Jones and Julia Witte first came to
00:49the Bahamas with a primitive computer, attempting to entice a group of spotted dolphins to their cameras.
00:57I couldn't have imagined when I first set out on this quest to meet dolphins in the open sea that
01:02the work would take up the rest of my life.
01:06Not only did I find friendly dolphins in the Bahamas, but their discovery led me to seek out other species
01:12around the world, from bottlenose dolphins in French Polynesia to killer whales in the Arctic.
01:23Julia Witte, trained as a biologist, faced a unique challenge when confronted with animals as curious about her as she
01:31was about them.
01:36I quickly found I couldn't study dolphins the way I'd studied other animals.
01:41The dolphins demanded interaction with us or they'd leave.
01:44And that presented a new kind of problem.
01:47How to keep them interested without influencing their behavior.
01:54One dolphin emerged from the group as astonishingly friendly and curious.
01:59We called him Chopper.
02:00He'd swim with us nearly every day, and we've had the privilege of literally watching him grow up.
02:12Today, Hardy Jones uses film and the internet to inform and educate people to the unique world of dolphins and
02:21the environment they live in.
02:22Though Hardy's work takes him around the world, he still returns to the Bahamas nearly every summer, especially to see
02:30Chopper.
02:33When first setting out, Hardy and Julia planned to stay a single summer, and the title they had in mind
02:39for their film was, A Year with the Dolphins.
02:43Little did they know.
02:44Little did they know.
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