Trip 38
Today’s trip was filled with walk-ins, which always adds a sense of pressure to find dolphins, since the passengers are only with us for one boat trip. Unfortunately, we did not see any spotted dolphins. We did however, see a group of at least 4 bottlenose, but they were acting very stereotypically- quick swim-bys followed by several minute dives. And, yet again, as we began our journey back to the island, we saw a manta ray! That is three times in one week…very unusual.
So, even though we did not see any dolphins today, we are feeling as though this summer has been a productive field season. Today was our 38th trip in 2 ½ months. Obviously we would love to have even more, but those numbers will help us to go home happy. The next trip is Wednesday (another one-day group). We’ll be spending this week trying to get all remaining videos logged, data sheets entered and still photos IDed. It will mean a lot of time inside, but next week is a full dolphin week and we know that we will want to spend a bit of time doing fun things around the island and visiting with friends before we return to CT on 28 August.
Until later,
Kel and Darcie