The former is longtime Saratogan Linda Barrett, a De Anza College instructor who spends most of her free time serving as administrator of Dean's nonprofit organization—the Dolphin, Whale and Marine Wildlife Foundation.

The latter is JoJo, an Atlantic bottlenose dolphin who, along with his cetacean cousins like humpback whales and orcas, is a beneficiary of the foundation. He was also its inspiration, as indicated in the organization's mission statement:

"By becoming familiar with the life and purpose of a single lone dolphin, we have created a greater understanding of compassion and companionship amongst humanity and all species. Thus, a greater consciousness amongst all life."

Photograph courtesy of the Dolphin, Whale and Marine Wildlife Foundation Dean Bernal spends a good portion of each year in the Turks and Caicos Islands, where he visits his best friend JoJo and works to protect JoJo's habitat.

He took a well-earned vacation to the British West Indies, where he went "island-hopping." An experienced swimmer and diver, Bernal began favoring the remote Turks and Caicos Islands, where he found warm, shallow waters, unspoiled natural beauty and a group of inquisitive Atlantic bottlenose dolphins who seemed to enjoy swimming near him.

"First it was three dolphins. I'd swim with them until sunset," recalls Bernal, who can hold his breath for several minutes. "But JoJo seemed to be the one who stood out. He was the most friendly and curious.

"I never reached out to touch him. To this day, he initiates the contact with me," he adds. Bernal says this is significant because even as he and JoJo began socializing more, the dolphin already had a bad rap among some island residents and tourists, due to his habit of biting the hands of people who tried to pet him.

This didn't surprise Bernal, however, as he understood that dolphins, no matter how "cute" they look or act, are still wild animals who will make it quite clear when they feel threatened.

The first physical contact between the pair was when JoJo showed up injured from an encounter with a motor-driven watercraft. He was having trouble reaching the surface of the water, a critical problem for an animal that breathes through a blowhole. Bernal tentatively offered his assistance, and JoJo accepted it.

"That was the start of a real dialogue. At first I was worried he'd associate me with the people who hurt him, but the opposite was true," says Bernal who, over the years, has helped nurse JoJo through dozens of additional human-caused injuries.

In 1987, Bernal learned that the government of the Turks and Caicos Islands was considering having JoJo captured, relocated or killed because they feared his unpredictable actions toward humans were hurting the tourism industry. After a determined letter-writing and petition campaign, along with his personally gathered information about JoJo and the local dolphins, Bernal managed to get JoJo named a National Treasure of the islands.

Bernal later obtained a title of his own in the islands—marine director for protection of reefs and islands from degradation and exploitation. And by 1989, the government had named Bernal as JoJo's official "warden," which gave the dolphin legal protection.

Although JoJo knew nothing of the politics surrounding him, he did return Bernal's kindness in a big way. Once, during a documentary photo shoot, a hammerhead shark appeared suddenly and came menacingly close to Bernal. JoJo took notice and, using his blunt nose, rammed into the shark with lethal force before it could harm Bernal.

In more relaxing situations, JoJo is known for bringing Bernal "gifts" of shells, "introducing" him to other cetaceans and guiding him into particularly scenic underwater areas.

Although he and JoJo can't talk in the traditional sense, Bernal says they learned to communicate through methods such as body language, movement styles, eye contact and even facial expressions. "Dolphins and whales can express being sad, feeling pain, being in a good mood and any other emotion," he says, smiling.

"When you think of what animals are the most mysterious to us but the most like us, it would be the cetaceans," Bernal says.

Barrett, who has joined Bernal several times in the islands, is convinced Bernal's strongly empathic nature also helps him communicate with JoJo.

"Dean is one of the few people in the world who has such a deep knowledge of these animals in the wild," says Barrett, who feels Bernal has an innate ability to commune with all creatures. "Establishing pure communication can't be learned from animals in captivity. It has to be in the wild, on their own terms."

Photograph courtesy of the Dolphin, Whale and Marine Wildlife Foundation Along with dolphins, Dean Bernal is also very interested in studying humpback whales and swims with them frequently.

An animal-lover herself, Barrett first met Bernal several years ago, when her daughter Katie, now a UC-Santa Cruz student, was an office assistant at Saratoga High School. Vice Principal Karen Hyde asked Katie to contact Bernal to see if he would give a school presentation.

To make a long story short, Barrett says, Bernal discovered Katie was an animal-lover who practiced "natural horsemanship"—a horseback riding method that stresses human-horse body language and intuitive communication. When he visited Saratoga High, he also arranged to meet with Katie and Linda and shoot some film footage of Katie interacting with her horse, Hobbes, at Garrod Farms Riding Stables in Saratoga.

Barrett says the "intimate connection" between Katie and Hobbes reminded Bernal of his relationship with JoJo. When Barrett invited Bernal to have dinner with her family that night, he showed them videotapes of his cetacean adventures and told them about his young foundation to preserve marine life.

"It was like magic! Katie's eyes were as round as saucers. We both wanted to help Dean. He and his work are just so real," says Barrett, who compares Bernal's love and concern for cetaceans to that which Jane Goodall has for primates.

Soon enough, Barrett signed up to be Bernal's stateside administrator of the Dolphin, Whale and Marine Wildlife Foundation, which she says is especially helpful when he's in the Turks and Caicos Islands, where he makes his semipermanent home. Katie also helps out by researching and developing resources, updating information at www.jojodolphin.org, and performing various other tasks.

Although JoJo will always remain the foundation's mascot and Bernal's favorite cetacean, Bernal says he is broadening the foundation's focus to include other marine mammals. He is especially interested in raising public awareness of the mammals' medical, social, safety and environmental needs and in educating both researchers and members of the general public about mankind's impact on the animals, which is often detrimental.

"Humans seem to think we have the most sophisticated culture and intellect, but that's simply not true. The mark of intelligence is being one with your environment, not destroying it," Barrett says of an attribute cetaceans have over humans. "When you think of cognition, that is their world. Cetaceans have a life of the mind. And they also have a life of the heart."

Whenever he's not in the Turks and Caicos Islands, Bernal can be found giving multimedia presentations on these topics to schools, clubs, museums, environmental groups and anyone willing to give him an ear. He's also preparing to publish a children's book on his favorite topic. He even arranges for seriously ill children to swim with his dolphin and whale friends, but this is not something he publicizes, due to the limited scale of the project.

His most recent public appearance was Nov. 26 at the Saratoga Foothill Club.

JoJo appears around the world, too—albeit in electronic form. He was featured in Into the Wild—Dolphins, a PBS video hosted by Robin Williams, as well as Dolphins, a widely distributed IMAX-format film.

Ever the advocate, Bernal has begun what he calls "documentary expeditions" in the Turks and Caicos Islands to document the lives of the humpback whales that frequent the area. People of all ages and educational backgrounds—from scientists to senior citizens to children—spend time learning about humpback whales from Bernal and other experts, and then get into the water to actually observe the whales and their complex behaviors and song cycles.

Bernal calls this "citizen science." The trips include visiting a nearly unknown mating and calving ground, which Bernal hopes will eventually become a protected whale sanctuary—but he has to gather more data first.

"We're doing what we love to do, and also introducing others to it. I've never heard anyone say that they don't like a whale or a dolphin," Barrett says, smiling.

People needn't travel to the Caribbean Sea to help the Dolphin, Whale and Marine Wildlife Foundation, however, as there are plenty of opportunities available on dry land. If people join the foundation as volunteers, they make use of whatever special skills or interests they have while learning and developing new skills at the same time. Because the organization is grass-roots, there is no stuffy bureaucracy to deal with either, Barrett notes.

With fundraising activities, grant proposals, publications, public presentations, trips and various other programs on tap, Bernal keeps himself as busy above water as he does below. But it's all worth it, he says, if he can make as big a difference in the lives of marine mammals as JoJo has made in his.

For more information about the Dolphin, Whale and Marine Wildlife Foundation, visit www.jojodolphin.org or call Barrett at 408.867.3234 or Bernal at 649.941.5617.