What began with a routine nighttime ocean dive off the coast of Kona on Hawaii island to view manta rays four years ago turned into an unforgettable encounter with a bottlenose dolphin — now the story for a children’s book.
“Notch, the Rescued Dolphin” ($19.95) by Martina Wing is due out before Christmas, following a successful Kickstarter campaign that recently surpassed its fundraising goal of $13,000 with a total of $15,704 in just one month.
The 48-page, self-published picture book is based on a real encounter with a bottlenose dolphin, according to Wing of Manta Ray Advocates, which offers photographs and video of underwater dives with mantas while maintaining a database of the resident population.
In January 2013, a bottlenose dolphin lingered near divers from Manta Ray Advocates, seemingly asking for help to free it from entanglement in fishing gear. Divers at first kept their distance, but the dolphin followed. So a diver reached out to cut the line and help free the hook from the dolphin’s left flipper.
Wing captured it all on video and it quickly became a YouTube sensation with more than 20 million views.
“The response was just incredible,” said Wing, the underwater videographer who filmed the encounter, “and really touched many people around the world from young to old.”
The dolphin was nicknamed “Notch” because he has one on his back. He is also recognizable by a white scar near his left eye.
Wing said the inspiration for the book happened while she was visiting family in a small town near Cologne, Germany. At a souvenir shop, she picked up a children’s book about Tuffi the circus elephant, who fell from a “schwebebahn” (suspended railway) into a river during the ’50s. Luckily, Tuffi survived, and the story has become a local legend.
She thinks that Notch’s story could become a local legend in Kona.
“The goals are teaching compassion and kindness, and environmental issues,” Wing said.
In the book, Notch plays with his family, but also meets with fellow marine animal friends including a Hawaiian monk seal named Waimanu, a tiger shark named Laverne and a manta ray named Big Bertha. When Notch gets entangled, Big Bertha is the one who leads him to the human divers who she says can help him.
Jackie Mask, a freelance artist and former intern at Manta Ray Advocates, is the book’s illustrator while Scott Fuqua, a professional author, will edit it. With the extra funds, Wing is thinking of translating the book into other languages.
Fourteen months after the rescue, divers spotted Notch, who seemed to be doing well, swimming with a pod of dolphins. Wing says Notch has been spotted numerous times, most recently in February.
Books are available at notchdolphinbook.com.
