Hanging on with both hands and watching the swells roll by.
Doesn't it seem that my reports are more weather reports as opposed to dolphin reports? I guess that is the way of things when you are reliant on calm seas and light winds to actually conduct research. We left Sandy Cay a few hours early because the winds were still about 20 knots (FYI: 1.2mph = 1 knot) and we could see rolling white caps off in the distance. Exactly where we were headed. Today was our day to return to port and we had the ride of a lifetime. Or so it felt. We had 3-5 foot swells and significant winds. We were at a Beaufort 6 with lots and lots of white caps that remained on the surface for a bit of time. The only way to see dolphins in this type of sea was if they jumped up and waved hello! But, we actually saw a bottlenose dolphin. It was swimming in the opposite direction we were headed and did not even stop for a brief bowride. One of the passengers remarked that the dolphin was probably thinking we were crazy to go into the sea! We made it back by early afternoon …. the trip only took about 4 hours as opposed to its normal 2.5 hours. Tomorrow is our last day with this group and then one more trip for the summer. Cheers Kathleen