Scratch that

Well, things are always changing around here.  Today we had an impromptu trip and we won’t have a trip tomorrow.  It was a great group of passengers who were very patient with the random day at sea!  Why was it random you ask….?    Well, first of all, it was the most beautiful day we’ve had all month.  So, the crew & I were quite happy to be on the boat, even though we were pretty tired from yesterday’s double trip.  Second, just as we entered the dolphin grounds our captain spotted a big shark!  It was a beautiful tiger shark – probably between 12 – 15 feet long.  It was quite tolerant of the boat’s presence (perhaps it knew that it would win in a fight!) so we got to watch it from the boat for a few minutes.  At one point it crossed under the bow and the water was so glassy I could see its stripes!  Of course, the tiger shark meant that there were no dolphins in the area!    There may not have been dolphins for most of the day, but there were plenty of stray balloons.  That’s right.  Balloons.  So, we deviated from our route quite a few times to pick up this trash.  We looked like quite the party boat as we headed back to the island at sunset.  And then, sure enough, just as everyone had written the day off, the spotteds appeared!  It was a large group of mothers & calves, including unnamed #81 – and therefore probably his mother, unnamed #70.  Also present were White Blotch (#29) and her calf and nicknamed “Yarmulke” (#86) and the male who I think is likely her calf.  This male calf may be entered into the catalog as #88, because in addition to the single spot to the right of his dorsal fin, today he had a fairly fresh injury to his fluke. It isn’t a notch, so we’ll have to see how well it heals, but it was a pretty deep cut covering about 70% of his fluke.  It was too late & dark to get in the water, but we did stay out for a bit to enjoy watching the group.  One of the calves was quite small – likely between 6 months and a year.    Until next time,  Kel