BC man’s childhood friendship with dolphin inspires career

You hear them before you see them. But before that, says Gary Sutton, you smell them.

“They stink,” Gary laughs after focusing his camera on dozens of sea lions lounging in the marina. “They stink, but I love them.”

But sea lions can’t compare to your true love.

“Ultimately, they are on the menu for my favorite species, killer whales,” Gary smiles.

But before seeing orcas in BC as an adult, Gary befriended a dolphin in Florida as a boy.

“I still remember being completely amazed,” says Gary.

Young Gary was sitting by the sea on holiday when a dolphin swam up to him and started making sounds.

“I didn’t really know what to do while I was sitting there,” says Gary.

The dolphin seemed as curious about him as he was.

“So I started walking along the wall and (the dolphin) followed me and did barrel rolls.”

And this kept happening every day after. During the rest of Gary’s vacation, the dolphin approached the boy and they took daily walks together.

“You’re looking down and he’s looking at you with a contemplative look,” says Gary. “There’s something deeper there.”

This inspired a lifelong interest in underwater animals, which later led to his encounter with a curious seal pup (who would bite his GoPro camera) and one of its equally exuberant parents (who jumped out of the water at him).

This also led to questioning her unrelated career path.

“And I just remember being home one night and having a really terrifying moment of seeing my whole life in the future,” says Gary.

So the next day, Gary started looking for a way to follow his passion and headed across the country to the West Coast.

“I was really excited to pursue some kind of dream of working with whales,” says Gary.

He volunteered at an aquarium, which led to working as a naturalist in the ocean and eventually trying to capture orcas on his camera — including one whale in particular named Blackberry.

“He’s kind of the supermodel of the world residing in the South,” Gary smiles.

Thanks to Blackberry’s unique branding and charming personality, Gary was able to identify and connect with him on a regular basis.

“And show mutual curiosity,” says Gary. “Very similar to that dolphin.”

This led to Gary taking numerous photos of the Blackberry in the water, and one extraordinary shot of it jumping completely out.

“And the fact that I’m there in the right position to win it is, to me, better than winning the lottery.”

And now that Gary works full-time researching marine animals, he couldn’t be more grateful to that dolphin who inspired the boy to continue connecting with the water in wonder.

“You know, life is too short to waste time and not do what you love,” Gary smiles.