After four days of weather challenges and no dolphin sightings, today was the day. The sea was wonderfully flat and although this made things very warm, it was a welcome change over the rough, stormy weather at the beginning of the week. We were all diligently searching for dolphins and then, halfway into the trip, there they were. We knew it was a lot of dolphins, but we were amazed when our count reached 28 Atlantic spotted dolphins! At times, the group was quite cohesive and at others, somewhat scattered. We had two opportunities to swim with the dolphins, the second of which was the longest. Over the course of the afternoon we saw Buster (#04), Lumpy (#17), Split Jaw (#22), Lone Star (#56), Nemo (#76), Speedy (#78), Leslie (#80), Stefran (#82) and un-named #40, 24, 75. I think Billy (#64) was also there! And, I think we’ll ID even more individuals after reviewing photographs and video. In this photo, you can see Leslie and Nemo interacting closely; the water was so calm, I took this picture from the surface! With very satisfied passengers, we headed back to the dock!
On Friday morning I’ll visit the Coral Reef II again. This time, I’ll have a Q&A session with students from the Chicago City Day School. I can’t wait to hear what they have to say!
Until next time,
Kel