Monday was the second day on the water for the summer interns and the conditions were perfect (calm and beautiful). We headed out of the Sea Crest a little after 15:00 and were about to take a gear check/snorkel stop for some of our new guests, when all of a sudden we saw a single bottlenose dolphin surfacing in between crater feeding spurts at the bottom of the ocean. Alexis managed to take a few surface photographs of the dolphin’s dorsal fin while the gear check commenced. Once the passengers were back on board we headed out in pursuit of a livelier bunch of dolphins! Almost an hour and a half later we spotted a group of approximately 10 bottlenose dolphins that seemed to be sticking around for us. Once geared up, we headed in to a fairly social and interactive group. We were able to have 2 encounters with these dolphins allowing Amy and Alexis to take underwater video, underwater still photographs and above water still photographs! The dolphins seemed more curious than normal coming very close and swimming in and out of our group. We spotted 2 relatively young individuals and what looked like an attempted nursing event (which Alexis thinks she may have gotten on video)! After a while the dolphins seemed less interested in us, so we hopped back on the boat and headed back toward Bimini hoping we may see some more along the way. We were almost back, when all of a sudden Alexis spotted 2-3 dolphins surfacing in the distance. Unfortunately it was getting late and the sun was going down, so we continued heading in.
Today was a great day. Now, Amy is praying to get an encounter with some spotteds tomorrow! Keep your fingers crossed for us!
Over and out,
Alexis, Amy & Kel