The always popular dolphin Patches was spotted several days in a row recently off Dana Point and San Clemente.
Though his white-, pink- and black-spotted appearance always draws interest and enthusiasm from his many well-wishers who have followed his appearances over the years, this time his sightings are touching a more somber note among the whale- and dolphin-watching crowd.
Mark Tyson, a naturalist who first spotted the unusual-looking bottlenose dolphin in 2006 and gave him his name, died May 26, with word recently spreading through the local community.
“You can’t think about Patches and not about Mark,” said Gisele Anderson, who with her husband operates Capt. Dave’s Dolphin and Whale Watching Safari.
Tyson, 63, began working for the charter that operates out of Dana Point Harbor in 2000. In November 2019, he moved to Northern California with his brother, John Tyson.
Even then, Anderson said, Tyson didn’t really want to retire and they always held a place available for him should he want to come back.
“We never had a retirement party,” she said. “We had a ‘We love you, Mark’ party. We had to surprise him with it because it was hard for him to go.”
Tom Southern, a boat captain for Capt. Dave’s worked with Tyson for many years. He still recalls when Tyson first saw Patches.
“We were trying to figure out, is this a hybrid Risso-bottleneck?” Southern said. “Mark came up with the name Patches and immediately started keeping track of him. Then Patches took on a life of his own on the internet.”
Patches has been seen by charter and private boats between San Diego and Santa Barbara. He’s usually spotted with his squad of about 40 other bottlenose dolphins, which are the more typical dark gray color associated with dolphins. His unusual appearance comes from Leucism, a condition in which a reduction in melanin causes a partial loss of pigmentation, resulting in white, pale or patchy skin color.
Since Tyson first saw Patches, Capt. Dave’s records show he’s been observed 70 separate times.
Both Capt. Dave’s and Dana Wharf Sportfishing and Whale Watching reported seeing Patches June 11, 12, and 13. On June 14, Donna Kalez, who operates Dana Wharf and has a sister operation in Oceanside, reported Patches and his team popped up there.
“We are always so thrilled to see Patches,” Kalez said. “He is our lucky charm, he comes at a time when we’re slow or when we need a little pick-me-up. Like how we saw him for three days in a row this week, and then today we saw blue whales.”
While Patches was Tyson’s favorite, his nicknames stuck for several other animals people were delighted to spot. There was Casper, a pure white dolphin, though Southern said he hasn’t been seen in awhile, and Delta and Spike, a blue whale couple consistently seen off Dana Point for at least three years in a row.
In 2015, Southern said he and Tyson watched Spike lose his claim on Delta when another whale came on the scene and “head-slammed” Spike. The new blue whale was later seen traveling around with Delta by charter boats.
“He really connected with these animals and wanted to protect them,” Southern said of Tyson.
Jennifer Tyson, Mark’s younger sister who lives in Tustin, said her brother, nicknamed “Mako,” first became fascinated with whales and dolphins after owning a small sailboat that he would take back and forth to Catalina.
“When he got his job at Capt. Dave’s, he really fell in love with it,” she said. “He really got into educating people about whales and dolphins. Patches was like his baby. He called him ‘My Patches;’ he was very sentimental about him.”
One thing that Jennifer Tyson is happiest about was that her brother got a chance to see whales and their calves down in Baja courtesy of the Andersons.
“They paid an all-expenses trip for him to go down there,” she said. “That was a huge highlight. He spent five days on the water with the whales and the babies just before he passed.”
Anderson said the couple will always remember Tyson for his heart and his passion in life.
“I used to tell Mark, ‘I’d love to clone you,’” Anderson said. “I’d love to have your DNA and all the passion you have connecting to animals. You can get great people to crew, but you can’t train passion for the animals.”
She still laughs when she thinks of one thing he’d do on each boat trip.
“Whenever he was out on the boat, he talked to passengers through the ship’s communication system and he’d say, ‘Do you want to hear something cool?” Anderson said. “Then everybody would look at him and there would be this long pause. Then he’d say, ‘I get paid to do this’ and just laugh. Everybody got caught up in his enthusiasm.”
A private memorial that will include Tyson’s ashes being thrown into the sea off Dana Point is planned for June 23. Some wonder if Patches might be around for that.
“I’m going to pray that he does show up,” Anderson said. “It would honor Mark powerfully.”