Some of you may have seen my Facebook post earlier about this spring being bottlenose central…Well, it
would appear the bottlenose wanted to be sure you got the message! On Thursday’s dolphin trip with Bimini Undersea, the seas were calmer and our patience was not tested. Early in the day we saw our first group of dolphins – at least eight bottlenose dolphins, including a few familiar faces. Well, okay, maybe not familiar faces, but their dorsal fins were familiar! We could tell pretty quickly that the group was crater feeding so into the water we went. We got good underwater views of just about everyone in the group as we also listened to their whistles and their echolocation. Afterwards we were once again aboard the boat searching for dolphins. A single bottlenose made a typically quick appearance before disappearing, but toward the end of the day, we had another great observation of crater feeding bottlenose. By this time, the dolphins were a bit more active at the surface. A young one was repeatedly leaping and half-breaching, presumably trying to dislodge the pesky remora. Another bottlenose also made an in-air appearance, as you can see here. In addition to the dolphins, we enjoyed peeking at the (no fewer than) three nurse sharks – one of which must have had a full belly as it appeared to be asleep on the seafloor!
Until next time,
Kel