The list is very quiet during the last day or two.   I am awake in the
middle of the night because of my jet lag.  So I decided to share with you
something that happened, not too long ago.

In the middle of May 2001 a small private aircraft with a pilot and his
friend, took off from the small domestic airport in Tel Aviv (Israel - for
those who don't know where I live :-)  ).  It was 22:00 (10:00 p.m.) and
the night was quite dark.  The pilot (who was quite a novice but had a
valid license) made a quick turn right after the take off and something
went wrong.  Big time.  The small, single engine plane crashed into the
dark water of the Mediterranean Sea, about half a kilometer off shore.

The tower called the coast guard and in no more than 10 minutes, there were
helicopters and a coast guard vessel searching for survivors.  At the same
time, the Tel Aviv marine police sent one boat to help with the search
while making phone calls to the members of the volunteer search and
recovery divers.  I received the call at home, loaded my gear, drove to my
friend's house, helped him load his gear and we hurried to the Tel Aviv
marina.  During the 50 minutes drive we were briefed on the cellular phone
by the coordinator at the station.

10 minutes after we arrived at the marina, we were geared up, in wet suits,
on the police boat, on the way to the crash area.  As it was more than an
hour after the crash, the coast guard stopped the search because there was
no chance of finding anyone alive.  The police boat, which was already
there, found one body floating on the water, dead.  We helped taking the
poor soul out of the water and putting him on the boat.  It was very dark.
There were no signs of oil or debris on the water.  So we started doing
search patterns in the area, trying to locate the plane or the other body.
The water was about 30-40 feet deep in that area and the visibility was the
usual 2-5 feet.

At 2:30 a.m. we were out of air and exhausted so we left the area and went
back to the marina to continue the search in the morning.  My team went
home to get a little rest and the other team slept in the marina and
continued the search at 6:00 a.m. the next morning.   The second team had
no luck and we replaced them at 10:00 a.m. after a little sleep and a nice
breakfast.

When the boat got to the estimated area of the crash, I suddenly saw a pod
of dolphins, 150 meters northwest to the point where we intended to search.
 There were two or three of them and they were diving down and coming up
again on the same spot.  Dolphins are very rare near the east coast line of
the Mediterranean and I have never seen one so close to shore.  When our
boat got within 5 meters from the dolphins they disappeared and we never
saw them again.

I was sure that they tried to tell us something and suggested starting the
search at that point.  The unit commander was reluctant because he wanted
to continue the search pattern we were doing.  As he didn't want to
disappoint me, he asked one of the divers to do a few free dives at that
point, to see if there was anything.  The water was very murky, the free
diver didn't see anything, and we got back to the original point and
continued the search.  The boat captain marked that point on the GPS of the
boat.

It took the unit 28 hours to find the airplane and the second body.  I
wasn't on the team that did find the plane and the other body, and I was
glad that the unit had concluded the search, successfully.  Many high
ranking police officers had their pictures taken with the remains of the
plane, the Tel Aviv marine police was praised by the commissioner and our
unit had its budget upgraded :-) .

Then, back to work, family, and the trip to the U.S. and Grand Turk.
Yesterday, I attended a meeting of the unit and somebody mentioned the
plane incident (the unit had two more recoveries since then so it wasn't
the highlight of the meeting).  The unit's commander turned to me and said:
"Hey, Kuty, I forgot to tell you.  We did a case study on that incident,
with the coast guard.  Guess what?  We discovered that the plane was
finally found, exactly where those dolphins were swimming when we got
there.  I guess we should have listened to you and began the search there."

I am convinced that these magnificent and intelligent creatures were
marking the spot for us.    I am sure that they understood what we were
doing and I am sure that they tried to tell us: "Hey, guys, it's here.  We
share your grief for your fellow men and we want you to find your friends
and get them a proper burial."

I love dolphins.

Regards,

                Kuty