Today was busy! Most days are feeling like that lately, but we don’t mind. We were up bright & early this morning- Darcie off to keep John company during his first SCUBA class & Kel to volunteer at a swim camp being offered this week. Bahamian children are absolutely adorable, but are surprisingly inexperienced in & around the water. We’re happy to lend a hand each morning this week & hope that it will help the kids increase their awareness & respect for the ocean as well as recognize our now tan faces around the island. After a late breakfast/early lunch, it was errand time, including laundry, which is always a bit of an event here. At least we were able to borrow a friend’s golf cart in exchange for letting her dog out. Unfortunately, even a high powered golf cart can’t keep you safe from torrential downpours! Oh, right, we are here to study dolphins too! We don’t however normally see the assortment of species that were observed today….it was amazing! It began with a turtle sighting, followed by another. They were quick glimpses, but both were impressive in size. Then at 17:37, we were greeted by our first dolphin group- 4 spotteds who had little interest in swimming with us. 2 swam away immediately, but an older mother & young calf allowed us to observe them for quite some time. She was seen because she was repeatedly leaping into the air- higher than we have ever seen a spotted go. She did this over & over. Luckily our new camera is so fast, we got some great pictures of her out of the water & will try to identify her. While watching, we cruised right over a hammerhead shark, Darcie’s first! The hammerhead seemed to have little interest in the dolphins as it swam on the seafloor under the dolphins. A short time later, a mackerel came flying out of the water, onto the boat & out the back! What is going on here?! Soon, we left this pair to check out another group close by. It was a spotted/bottlenose group, but they did not seem to be interacting. After they went out of view, we came upon yet another group of spotted dolphins! There were at least 9 animals, including Juliette (#12) & un-named #25 & #81. We were able to have a ten minute encounter before needing to head home. So, we’re sleepy! Until next time, Kel & Darcie
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