A nice day with surprisingly curious bottlenose dolphins…
Every morning we seem to wake up to clouds, but at least this afternoon the sun was shining for our boat trip. With some extra folks joining us today, we were geared up for not only using the MVA1 to record video and acoustic data, but also to start using our digital still cameras. We tested out the housings at our snorkel stop at “Atlantis” aka, “The Bimini Road.” With no water on the inside (Kathleen taught us that!), we were ready to go!
Once in the “dolphin grounds,” we saw a bigger than average group of bottlenose dolphins (~13 animals), and again, there were representatives from multiple generations- including a pretty small calf! Bottlenose dolphins in this area tend to be completely uninterested in boats and humans. This group was surprisingly curious and came to the boat for several bow rides. So, the captain decided to let passengers in the water- and Darcie joined to test out the new still camera. They stuck around for a bit and while we were hoping they would serve as a warm-up for a spotted sighting, this group of bottlenose would be all the dolphins for us today….
So, better luck tomorrow!
Until then,
Kel and Darcie