Categories: Need to know

Dick Van Dyke rescued by porpoises

84-year-old actor had drifted far from shore on a surf board

by macleans.ca on Thursday, November 11, 2010 12:43pm - 12 Comments

Actor Dick Van Dyke (The Dick Van Dyke Show) was surfing on his local beach when he fell asleep; when he woke up, he found the board had drifted “out of sight of land,” and the 84 year-old actor wasn’t sure he could get back to shore. But luckily the fins he saw swimming around him turned out not to belong to sharks, but to porpoises, who pushed him back to shore. Proving that if humans haven’t forgiven Van Dyke for his Cockney accent in “Mary Poppins,” the aquatic mammals have.

The Guardian

Tags:

Bookmark and Share
  • Grand Blanc

    I love how you call Dick Van Dyke being rescued by porpoises "entertainment." But wouldn't it be more "entertaining" if he was eaten by sharks off the coast of Florida? Somehow, a rescue effort by porpoises seems a little bit tame.

  • true north

    I wonder if it was the off spring of ''Flipper?''

  • Ariadne

    84 years old yet still surfing? Wow! I hope I could still snow board when I reached that age and beyond.

    • Eddie

      well, if you fall in water, porpoises can save you. if you fall in snow at the top of a mountain…!!! I would rethink the snow- boarding-at-84 idea! ;-)

      • Ariadne

        Don't worry I will start sewing thick paddings for my bum, knees, legs, neck collar, elbow and arms. I will try not to forget preparing thick nappies for such adventure either. Who knows a bear might break my fall before landing, and hopefully not as its prospective meal.

        • true north

          And you can replace the wheels on your walker, and strap Skis to It……

          • Ariadne

            Brilliant idea! I can't wait to be 84 to try this thing!

  • FrankS

    And yet some of us still hunt these friendly and intelligent animals for food! We should all be ashamed of ourselves

    • Eddie

      when it comes to competing for the same food source, humans are just as animal as any other animal in the food chain.

  • twinks

    I believe this story, oh yes I do. Uh huh.

    • Jenn_

      It does have a certain onion-like flavour, doesn't it?

  • Mary

    Dolphins recognize themselves in a mirror at a younger age than humans do. It was all over the news today.

Previous

Next

From Macleans