On Sunday, I met with the team from CINE FILMS Europe who is on Bimini for the next two weeks filming for their Ocean Giants production. We chatted about what to expect from the dolphins in the area and DCP’s research. On Monday, we left the dock at 1300 in search of dolphins. We knew the wind would not be in our favor, but at least the skies were clear! We came upon a group of bottlenose dolphins and there were plenty of them. An actual group count will be tricky though – it was hard to tell if the same dolphins were doubling back and enjoying the surf or if many bottlenose were passing through. Normally, I’d be looking forward to the photo-ID images to clear that up; but with the rough sea conditions, I know I did not get a good percentage of dorsal fins documented. I did get what appears to be a mother-calf pair (pictured here). I can’t wait to add a suspected sex to this Tt’s ID record! Two crew members got in the water, but with no bottlenose in view under water, we opted to continue in search of something else.
And something else we found – briefly. Four young spotted dolphins came rushing to the boat. They were right alongside us and we were all optimistic when just as suddenly, they were gone. Disappointed, we continued our search, but with rough seas all around, our challenging search came up empty.
Tuesday brought much of the same, plus scattered squalls. Still, we searched for dolphins for about five hours. We were pleased that the water clarity improved throughout the morning, but unfortunately the only dolphins we saw were two (quickly) passing bottlenose. Good thing this crew has ten more boat trips scheduled!
Until next time,
Kel