Dolphin spotted near Dike Bridge on Chappy

Bob Carroll saw something out the window of his Chappaquiddick home Sunday morning that doesn't happen every day. At first, he saw a fin and thought what most of us on Amity Island would think on the eve of the Fourth of July: a shark.

“It would have been much rarer,” he said.

Upon further inspection by his wife, they realized the sea creature was a dolphin.

Just behind Carroll's house is the Dike Bridge. The dolphin would have had to cross Cape Poge Bay before reaching the waters outside Carroll's house.

“It hasn't happened in a few years,” Carroll said of the rarity of spotting a dolphin in the bay.

On Sunday, Carroll was a little concerned about the marine mammal. The last time he saw it, the dolphin had died. He said the water nearby is shallow, about three feet deep. Shortly after spotting it, Carroll alerted the reserve managers, who then contacted the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration.

He also posted a video on Facebook and shortly after saw 30 or 40 cars in a few hours near Dike Bridge, with passengers trying to spot the dolphin.

Fortunately, a little after noon, instead of passing under the bridge and heading toward Poucha Pond, where the dolphin would most likely have met its end, the aquatic mammal swam north up the canal, and Carroll assumed it had safely returned to sea.

It's a happier fate than the one that befell Cape Town this weekend, where researchers say 125 dolphins washed ashore. It's the largest mass stranding the International Fund for Animal Welfare has faced in its 26-year history. They managed to get about 100 of them back to deeper waters, but more than a dozen died.

If you see a stranded, distressed, or dead marine mammal, contact a local stranding network partner or call the NOAA Stranding Hotline at 866-755-6622.