5 I hope I get to meet her Betty said I’m a huge fan of her work I’ve read all her papers and books Your dad owns the Wilds The Wilds was their two-thousand-acre wildlife He says that the Wilds owns us but yeah he started it conservation center in Texas before I was born You were raised in a zoo It’s a conservation center We live on the property Glen Rose Texas Ring nodded South of Dallas I’ve never been there I’m a marine mammal person Dad just completed a state-of-the-art marine mammal facility at the Wilds It’s a holding area for injured marine mammals When they’re better we’ll try to release them back into the wild Your dad’s a veterinarian Ring figured Betty already knew his dad was a veterinarian and was probably making polite conversation as a way of pumping him for information about his famous parents He is he said Is the Wilds open to the public Some of it is some of it isn’t The public can’t go to the breeding facilities or reintroduction pens The ship came to a slow stop and the engine was shut down The WILDES
6 What’s going on Ring asked a little concerned We’re drifting Betty answered They must have picked up more vaquita clicks They sometimes shut down the engine because it scares the porpoises away They’re skittish Ring jumped up from the table and rushed to the bow where he found the researchers oohing aahing and pointing Asia had relinquished her high-powered binoculars to someone else and was now snapping photos through a telephoto lens Ring squeezed his way to the rail next to her Where Two o’clock Asia pointed as she continued snapping photos Two adults Thirty yards out Ring spotted the vaquitas but couldn’t see them very well Do you have your small binocs In my pack He yanked them out and focused on the porpoises Beautiful he shouted He didn’t even care that Asia had seen them before he had It was like spotting two unicorns He had spoken to a fisherman who had been fishing in the Sea of Cortez for twenty years and had never seen a vaquita It is like the Bigfoot the man told him It does not exist It is a myth The vaquita does exist Ring thought joyfully Their dark backs and dorsal fins glistened in the sunlight Puffs of light mist wafted from their blow holes They were The VAQUITA
7 around five feet long swimming slowly in front of the drifting ship They seemed at ease Do you realize that we are looking at one fifth of the vaquitas left in the whole world Asia asked Ring hoped she was wrong but knew she was probably right Most scientists agreed that there were only a handful of vaquitas left in the wild and they were only found in the Sea of Cortez One of the vaquitas lifted its bullet-like head above the surface and Ring glimpsed the dark circles around its eyes The panda of the sea he said Are you getting any good shots I don’t know Asia said It’s hard with the glare on the water She noticed several other crew members pushing up from behind to catch a glimpse of the vaquitas Maybe we should make room I have enough photos Reluctantly Ring followed her to the back of the crowd They found a couple of deck chairs and sat down Maybe we’ll spend another night because of the sighting Asia said Ring hoped not Being aboard the two-hundred-foot research ship had been kind of boring at least until they spotted the vaquitas They were scheduled to return to port that afternoon after three days of cruising The crew had been nice enough to them but it was clear they were The WILDES
8 uncomfortable with two kids aboard Ring wanted to get back to the house his father had rented He’d hardly had any time to explore the desert surrounding the rental and the town of San Felipe five miles north One by one the crew started leaving the bow returning to their stations Show’s over someone announced The ship’s engine restarted with a deep rumble Ring and Asia returned to the bow The only person there was Trisha from the sonar room What happened Asia asked What always happens Trisha said The vaquitas took a deep dive and disappeared Were they known or unknown Ring asked stealing Asia’s next question We won’t know until we examine the photos Trisha looked at Asia Send the photos you took to me I’ll give you my email address I don’t think they’re very good Asia said Vaquita photos are never very good I look at all the photos good and bad to try to determine if they’re known or unknown Will we stay out longer now Ring asked Trisha shook her head and pointed at the angry black clouds billowing up to the south We’re heading in We’re The VAQUITA
