Wind + Dolphins

BIM12_T47_TtOn Monday, somewhat high winds threatened to keep us all on shore. As it turned out, Pam & Liana continued their “office” tasks while Kel headed out with Bimini Adventures. We knew the choppy seas might keep us close to shore, but we remained optimistic. Not too long into the trip we suddenly saw a group of 5 bottlenose dolphins, including at least one youngster. Although we saw the group very clearly and quite close to the boat, it was a short-lived sighting as we could not keep our eyes on the dolphins as they surfed the swells. But, Kel did grab a quick photo of this dolphin’s very distinct dorsal fin (pictured here). Hopeful this sighting was simply meant to warm us up for more dolphins, we kept searching. With squalls threatening, we took our search closer to the lee of Bimini – and we were not disappointed! Suddenly we had four Atlantic spotted dolphins near the boat, presumably two mother/calf pairs. The passengers got in for a nice swim while Kel made surface observations. Content that our efforts were not in vain, we headed in.

But, the dolphins were not done with us! Before we knew it, it seemed there were dolphins everywhere. There were at least 18 individual dolphins, but the count was likely a bit higher. Under water, we saw mother/calf pairs, playful juveniles and feisty adults. We’ll likely be able to identify even more dolphins when we review video, but in the moment, Kel was able to ID Freckles (#15), Lumpy (#17), Split Jaw (#22), Tim (#69), Speedy (#78), Leslie (#80, and her calf), Addie (#84), Tilly (#87), Inka (#93), Milo (#96), un-named #s 40, 95 and 97 – for a moment there, we thought we might see the entire DCP catalog!

After today, we can’t help but wonder what the rest of the week will bring!
Until then,
Kel, Pam & Liana