There is a thread here, thin but a thread. In 1970 I helped Burke Mooney deliver “Chubasco” from Newport to Ft. Lauderdale; leaving Newport in November. For me, there were many tales spawned as a result of this trip. All of them fun memories.
Fort Lauderdale diver ‘humbled’ by Oscar win for ‘The Cove’
March 08, 2010|By Ben Crandell, Staff Writer
Greg “Moondog” Mooney, of Fort Lauderdale, watched the Academy Awards Sunday night like most of us did: With a small gathering of friends at someone’s house.
Of course, his gathering was in Los Angeles, and he watched his film, “The Cove,” win an Oscar.
“It’s been a wild ride,” Mooney said groggily from L.A. on Monday morning.
Mooney, a 47-year-old Stranahan High graduate, runs Moondog Dive Outfitters and is a longtime marine technician for the Oceanic Preservation Society, founded by “The Cove” director Louie Psihoyos.
Coconut Grove dolphin activist Ric O’Barry and expedition director Simon Hutchins, of Fort Lauderdale, were South Floridians in pivotal roles in the filming. Netscape founder and Palm Beach resident Jim Clark financed the film.
“The Cove,” shot secretly over three years, chronicles the annual herding of thousands of dolphins into an isolated cove in Taiji, Japan. Some animals are removed to be exported to marine mammal exhibits around the globe. The rest are slaughtered, stabbed with spears, their meat sold for food in Japan.
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“I’m extremely humbled,” Mooney said of “The Cove” winning the Oscar against “unbelievable” competition in the best feature documentary category.
“It’s a very powerful movie. These are very important issues,” Mooney said. “And everyone likes dolphins.”
Mooney said concern for the ocean and its resources is a family affair. His father, Fort Lauderdale yacht captain Burke Mooney, designed and built bow cameras used in “The Cove.”
“My father and I. My sister and mom. Most of the people I associate with around town. That’s our lifestyle. We take it very seriously,” said Mooney. “We’re the Venice of America. It’s who we are.”
Mooney was buoyed by reports that the film’s distribution company has arranged to debut “The Cove” in Japan in May or June.
“This is a depleted environment,” he said. “People have to wake up and look.”
Mooney said he is not sure whether he would receive a golden Oscar statue or where he’d put it if he did. He expects to return to town on Tuesday.
And stardom will not go to his head.
