Thursday morning began early with a farewell breakfast and a mad dash to the airport for Cat & Janan. Thanks again for your hard work! For me, it was back to the solo grind, prepping for the boat and heading out shortly after 1600 with a private dolphin trip charter with Bill & Nowdla Keefe. We didn’t need to wait long and soon we saw a group of at least 18 dolphins! They were slightly scattered so the count was difficult. But, included in the group were Lone Star (#56), Stefran (#82), Tilly (#87) and un-named #84. We had two short swim with these dolphins, but they seemed to be on the move. Soon, we were looking for others and were not disappointed! Only minutes later we saw our second group of Atlantic spotted dolphins, this time five individuals. But, this group was completely disinterested in our presence, so after they ducked and avoided the boat, we left them. And guess what? Only minutes later we saw more dolphins! Nemo (#76), Leslie (#80) and an un-known adult were on the move. They came in for a nice bowride and the guests were able to get a look at Nemo’s “lucky fin.”
As we headed closer to the island, we saw dolphins jumping in the deep water and later got to see at least seven bottlenose dolphins. While I stayed onboard to collect dorsal fin photographs, the crew and passengers got a super close underwater look. We were all prepared for that to be the highlight of the day and continued back to shore…
Our ride was pleasantly interrupted by our seventh sighting of the day! This group of at least six spotteds included Split Jaw (#22), Billy (#64) and, I think, Vincent (#11). I can’t wait to review the video to be sure! There were one or two calves in the group and although water visibility wasn’t great (outgoing tide!), the dolphins came super close to us. A great end to the day!
Until next time,
Kel