One of the wonderful things about having a website is the ability to connect with people from all over the world. Around Thanksgiving, I received an email from Debbie and Paul Huxtable, a couple who lives in Adelaide, South Australia. Not only are they a couple, but they also happen to be a couple of amazing photographers specializing in wildlife living in and around the Port River, which flows inland through Port Adelaide.

Port Adelaide is a suburb of Adelaide, the capital of South Australia (one of Australia’s six states) and the fifth largest city in Australia. Right on the coast, it’s another bustling urban area with tons of industry based along the Port River. Similar to Los Angeles, local animals have been forced to adapt and cope with humans encroaching on and altering natural habitats.

Debbie and Paul Huxtable contacted me to find out if I would post a link to their Port River Dolphins website on Ocean Wild Things. As I was browsing through their website, something about the dolphin photos seemed very familiar…and then I saw photos of a dolphin tail walking and finally my memory made the connection…that’s Wave the dolphin!

I wrote a post about Wave during Spring of 2010 after receiving an email about a dolphin in Australia with a mysterious skin condition. Wave is one of the famous Port River dolphins that knows how to tail walk and also happened to acquire a horrible skin problem. Ever since I wrote about Wave, I’ve wanted to know more and I realized this was the perfect time to strike a mutually beneficial deal: post the Huxtables website on Ocean Wild Things in exchange for more information on Wave and the Port River dolphins.

The Huxtables graciously agreed and have emailed several amazing photos and fascinating information about the Port River dolphins. Thankfully, Wave is doing well and still tail walking as you can see in the photo above, which was taken a full year after the skin condition surfaced. I love this photo because in the right hand corner there’s a guy standing on the pier taking a photo, but little does he know Wave is tail walking just out of his shot.

Stay tuned for more about the Port River dolphins…a special pod in many ways.