Times of the Islands Summer 2024

The return
3:45 PM
Kell called his partner Katherine Hart to tell her that he
and the crew had found all four from the plane alive and
that they were heading back to Grand Turk. She notified
the authorities and let the ambulance know the boat
with survivors was on its way. A few people following the
unceasing flow of text messages on their phones could
not believe that all aboard the plane had been rescued.
It just did not seem possible in the heavy seas and gusty
winds.
MORGAN LUKER
Later in January, Kell Talbot found the Cessna engine cover on Great
Sand Cay.
Why they do this remains a bit of a mystery, but researchers
at the National Aquarium in Baltimore, Maryland have
come up with a theory. Dolphins, it seems, recognize
themselves in a mirror and this capability, the researchers
say, “is thought to correlate with higher forms of empathy
and altruistic behavior.”
The Turks & Caicos dolphins certainly exhibited that
wonderful attribute by looking out for humans in distress.
But they were not yet done. As Kell readied the boat to
head back, a couple of dozen dolphins swam all around
the boat. Soon more came into view, undulating through
the choppy seas in a wondrous display of wild nature.
No one doubted what they were saying: “Hey, we’re glad
that you are back with your people.” And then still more
showed up. Kell estimated that a pod of as many as 100
dolphins had gathered about. He had only seen that many
dolphins together twice in all his decades of being on the
sea off Grand Turk and Salt Cay. And those were just
pods moving together in search of food. This time, however,
the dolphins weren’t looking for food. They were
there to relish the moment too.
4:15 pm / Grand Turk
That belief was soon dashed when Kell arrived at the
dock with four happy but still stunned survivors. People
stopped whatever they were doing to come and witness
the extraordinary and unexpected rescue by their island
boys. One of those on the dock was Dalton Daniel who
was attached to the Governor’s Office and a marine with
the TCI Regiment. Dalton took it upon himself to escort
the ambulance taking the four survivors to the hospital
to make sure they had whatever they needed. After they
were treated for minor injuries and released, Dalton took
them to the Osprey Hotel where the Tourist Board had
booked them rooms and gave them his own shoes and
clothes to wear. He also lent them his cell phone so they
could call their families and let them know they were
alive. Then-Governor Nigel Dakin called Ellington to see
how he and the others were doing.
While finally settling into the hotel room and letting
the full experience of the ditching pour over him,
Ellington checked his pockets and was surprised to see
that he still had his wallet and AMEX card. Although the
governor and TCI Government had guaranteed hotel
room costs, Ellington insisted on paying with his credit
card so as not to be a burden. The heartfelt TCI generosity
continued the next morning when a local man saw the
survivors inside the Osprey Hotel café eating breakfast.
Figuring they had lost everything, the man, whose name
is not known, pulled $100 from his pocket and pushed it
into Ellington’s hand so they would have some spending
money for food and other necessities.
One thing all the survivors did lose in the plane crash
was their passports. Ellington’s wife in Miami quickly
stepped in and located the eAPIS (Electronic Advance
Passenger Information System) email that Ellington had
filed before taking off from St. Kitts. The eAPIS listed
the US citizenship of Ellington, Valecia, and Lesroy and
noted that Ronny was a Costa Rican citizen on a US stu-
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