We woke up Sunday to rain, but most had already passed to the other side of the island. The rest of the day was just windy – but it meant we had a little boat that couldn’t. We spent the morning in various lectures: introduction to DCP and the dolphins around Bimini, plus photo-identification. In the afternoon, we headed to Pigeon Cay, a mangrove island just on the other side of the Bimini harbor. We saw a big mound of empty conch shells, southern stingrays, a barracuda, and lots of fish: sergeant majors, yellow-tailed snappers, urchins and a cushion star! After we returned to the dock, some of us went to the beach to check out the big waves that were keeping us from the dolphin grounds. The current was strong, but we enjoyed taking our “wave selfies.”
We came back inside and we practiced our photo-ID skills. It is harder than we expected and sometimes the dolphins all look the same! Then we watched BBC’s Inside the Animal Mind (episode 3). We learned several new things, and not just about dolphins. Who knew that termites were so clever and how elephants investigate bones of their conspecifics.
In the evening we had a BBQ, broke a plate…no big deal. And two of us got our missing luggage! After finishing the film, and eating brownies, we worked on assignments and went to bed.
Until tomorrow,
UNBSJ 2014