You read the headline correctly - surprising after all the times Flipper rescues Bud! Bud catches some high school boys poaching for lobster and they threaten to derail Sandy's campaign to be Student Body President with nasty talk if Bud tells Porter of their illegal activity.
However Bud's conscience gets the better of him after he sees his Dad destroy another poacher's trap that he found and, after seeing the lengths Sandy is going to to get elected (painting a bunch of signs), he seems to guess that Sandy can win despite the other boys' threat. Porter meanwhile is watching a demolition crew make strips of gelignite to blast rocks for a new causeway. Bud decides to head out to where the boys laid their traps but they see Bud heading that direction in the skiff and chase him.
Bud brings one trap to the surface and sends Flipper into an underwater cave to retrieve the other just as the boys arrive to confront Bud. None of them knew that the cave was near the area of coral being blasted and an explosion sends rocks falling trapping Flipper in the cave. Bud pleads with the boys to help him move the rocks but they escape fearing prosecution for the illegal traps. Bud races home and breathlessly tells Porter a confusing summary of what happened and they race in the launch to rescue Flipper against the rising tide that will seal off the air pocket in the cave and drown him.
Porter dives and wraps a rope around the largest rock and Bud guns the launch engines hauling enough rock away to free Flipper. Porter has the boys paint his house instead of a prosecution for poaching.
This episode features some superb underwater cinematography especially the shot of Flipper escaping the cave as a small gap is opened up by the removal of the boulder. Best line of the show: Sandy is hailed by the poaching now painting boys as the successful winner of the election and views the painting work and says "If its good enough for Abe Lincoln to split rails when he was President, its good enough for me to help paint"!
However Bud's conscience gets the better of him after he sees his Dad destroy another poacher's trap that he found and, after seeing the lengths Sandy is going to to get elected (painting a bunch of signs), he seems to guess that Sandy can win despite the other boys' threat. Porter meanwhile is watching a demolition crew make strips of gelignite to blast rocks for a new causeway. Bud decides to head out to where the boys laid their traps but they see Bud heading that direction in the skiff and chase him.
Bud brings one trap to the surface and sends Flipper into an underwater cave to retrieve the other just as the boys arrive to confront Bud. None of them knew that the cave was near the area of coral being blasted and an explosion sends rocks falling trapping Flipper in the cave. Bud pleads with the boys to help him move the rocks but they escape fearing prosecution for the illegal traps. Bud races home and breathlessly tells Porter a confusing summary of what happened and they race in the launch to rescue Flipper against the rising tide that will seal off the air pocket in the cave and drown him.
Porter dives and wraps a rope around the largest rock and Bud guns the launch engines hauling enough rock away to free Flipper. Porter has the boys paint his house instead of a prosecution for poaching.
This episode features some superb underwater cinematography especially the shot of Flipper escaping the cave as a small gap is opened up by the removal of the boulder. Best line of the show: Sandy is hailed by the poaching now painting boys as the successful winner of the election and views the painting work and says "If its good enough for Abe Lincoln to split rails when he was President, its good enough for me to help paint"!
