I Can’t Believe I Got in the Water With That 1400-Pound Whale

Marine World foto, Newspaper reporter Barbara Falconer Newhall in wet suit and Marine World trainer Deirdre Ballou in boots and rain coat with bottle-nosed dolphin Spock at edge of tank in 1979. Marine World photo.

Last weekend I watched the CNN documentary “Blackfish” and saw a Sea World trainer attacked and pulled underwater by an out-of-control killer whale. I had to wonder — could that have been me? “Blackfish” traces the deadly history of killer whales at places like Sea World, and it brought back memories of the day I found myself in a tank of water with a 1400-pound pilot whale named Koko. Read more.