Spotted, bottlenose and a shark – oh, my!

BIM2010_TrudyandcalfToday’s winter dolphin trip was spectacular. Nowdla Keefe had small group of passengers and everyone was thrilled that the sun was shining and the seas were calm. On the way out of the harbor we passed a shark, but our thoughts were on dolphins. We were busy early as a small group of bottlenose dolphins appeared to be feeding. They had no interest in the boat, so after everyone got a good look (and I got some ID shots) we headed in search of spotteds. We were not disappointed! It was a special day as we were able to observe a group of eight dolphins – 4 moms and 4 calves. Trudy (#57, pictured here) and Stefran (#82) appeared to have the older two calves, while Lone Star (#56) and a mystery adult had particularly young babies. We watched them from the boat and eased our way into the water. At first the calves seemed quite eager to check us out and then we got to see the moms. During our second water entry, they had paired up and were slowly swimming toward the sea floor. 

On the way home we got to check out a good sized shark (tiger?) from the safety of the boat and a bonus look at bottlenose dolphins again. We couldn’t have asked for a better day! 

Until next time,

Kel