Mitzi and Flipper

When the Marco Beach Boys began, almost everyone was from anywhere but Florida, and when we began to see dolphins alongside the beach, we were all excited and fascinated with the favorite mammal that we grew up with on the Saturday night television show “Flipper.” When we began asking our boss and mentor, Captain Jim Martin, about the bottlenose dolphins we were seeing almost daily, we soon learned how the story of “Flipper” and the most famous dolphin in the world began.

Between Marco Island and Key West is the largest protected shoreline in Florida and is the Ten Thousand Islands. This vast ecosystem of tidal estuaries and mangrove forest is home to the coastal Everglades, The Big Cypress Preserve, and more bottlenose dolphins than anywhere in the world.

With an incredible metabolism and a voracious appetite for food and playful adventure, the animal that almost everyone in the world recognizes as “Flipper” has become a lovable force of nature, but very few realize the true story of “Flipper” began just offshore of the Marco River.

In late August of 1960, a salty old angler was alone and hauling in a catch of pompano on a battered and weathered fishing boat. With the aging mariner bent to the task of pulling in his net, a young bottlenose dolphin - also after the captured pompano - became accidentally ensnared in the large circle of mesh that was the fishing method of the day. After a few moments of panic, the frightened dolphin began tearing holes in the expensive net and threatened the loss of the valuable catch.

The fisherman that stood on the deck that day was a gruff and determined old mariner from Fort Myers Beach and he had been born at the end of the last century. His name was Milton Santini and when he realized his haul of pompano and his livelihood was in danger, the short and stocky seafarer jumped overboard fully clothed and began to wrestle the dolphin out of the seine mesh and into the open water.

After a sudden surprise, and quickly learning that any attempt to hold the young animal behind the dorsal fin resulted in a tail-slap to the head that would, “set your ears to ringing,” Santini found that by placing his arms around the animal in front of the dorsal fin, the dolphin instantly became docile and cuddled like a baby.

After about an hour of exhausting struggle, the young female dolphin was safely pulled out of the net and the remaining catch of pompano was securely aboard. Santini however, was once again surprised when the thankful and frisky mammal began swimming beside his boat and followed him home. He was even more surprised on the following days when the young female followed him out to sea again and again. As the weeks went by the lone dolphin followed the fishing boat from Ft Myers Beach to Marco, and even down to Grassy Key near Key Largo. The young animal was never a pest as she waited patiently away from the fishing activity but was always an amusing sight as she followed in the wake and surfed the waves behind the battered old pompano boat.

A month after the unusual relationship began, Santini’s boat was docked at Grassy Key when the fisherman was driving on the Overseas Highway and on a mission to the local grocery store. He was driving an old pickup truck when he was broadsided by another driver. After the accident, he was taken to the hospital at Key Largo.

A doctor explained that his hand had been broken and there would be no fishing or hauling in nets until the fingers, the wrist, and the forearm recovered. Santini was discouraged, but soon began a daily program of recovery and convalescence in a lounge chair by his boat at the dock. The doctor had given him a rubber ball to squeeze as the hand began to heal. With the young dolphin still waiting to go fishing, and still eager to be a thankful and faithful companion, Santini on the dock accidently dropped the rubber ball into the water and was delighted when the dolphin reacted instantly. Without hesitation, the bright red sphere was tossed back to the friend on the lounge chair with a flick of a playful nose. For the first time in weeks, Santini laughed aloud and a game of catch began between two companions that would now be inseparable.

As Milton Santini recovered from his injuries in the crash, he devised tricks that were more elaborate and games for the dolphin he named Mitzi. Before the end of the month, Mitzi could jump through hula-hoops, play catch with volleyballs, and jump on command, and take fish out of Santini’s hand. Well before the busy winter season began, Milton Santini, the gruff old fishermen from Ft Myers Beach, was never happier and making more money with his newly improvised trained dolphin show than he ever made fishing.  

The discovery and training of Mitzi prompted Santini into building dolphin pins in Grassy Key and training many more dolphins. “Mitzi” was an extremely intelligent female that Santini later would describe as an animal that “was smarter than he was.” He insisted that “Mitzi” could not only understand everything he would say but that he could teach her any trick in a matter of moments.

As tourists became fascinated, entertained, and even more intrigued by the local activities at the recently produced trained dolphin show, the story behind Santini and Mitzi began to grow. In the following January, Ivan Tors, a famous action/adventure filmmaker became interested in making a full-length feature film entitled “Flipper.”

“Flipper” was filmed on location in the Florida Keys and was ultimately the pilot for the famous television series that followed. A story that began in the waters surrounding Marco Island has not ended but continues today with Mitzi’s ancestors and some of the most beloved and amazing mammals on the planet.