We had such a great week in Bimini that our field reports had to take a back seat! We’ll fill you on everything…
On Monday, we joined another boat trip in search of Bimini’s dolphins with the BBC film crew. The dolphin observations were great. There was a large group of spotteds and their interactions included lots of physical contact, postures and range of vocalizations. Included in the group were several males (Split Jaw #22, Prince William #69, Tim #69, Speedy #78, un-named #95) and females on the outskirt (Tina #14, Lil’ Jess #35). Later in the day we had one more water entry, but the dolphins just cruised by; hopefully we’ll be able to identify at least a few from the video
.
On Tuesday, we began the day on land, discussing Monday’s observations. Shortly after noon, it was time for more boat work, but squalls had us running for cover. After waiting out the storms, we had one last chance for dolphins: and we found them! This time, we focused on surface observations while the crew tackled aerial shots. The helicopter came really (really!) close to the boat!
Wednesday was our last day on the boat – and it was a long one! Ready to go at 7 a.m., we did not get off the boat again until after 8 p.m. The day began with early bottlenose, the crew’s first chance to this species around Bimini. We collected lots of dorsal fin images to process with our photo-ID catalog, but the dolphins were too spread out to observe them under water. Although we did not find any other dolphins in the afternoon, everyone was happy with how the week progressed.
We spent Thursday morning addressing the final pieces of our to-do list. It is so rare that we are all together, it felt so good to get so much accomplished – and just visit!
Until next time,
Kel, Kathleen & Justin