On Monday the interns were happy to be back on the boat after a week of data work on land and now that the storms have passed. It was an international group today with Bimini Adventures from Switzerland and Japan. We started on our journey with light waves; unfortunately some of the passengers got seasick.
After an hour of searching we saw 2 sub-adult spotted dolphins swim by and surfing the waves. As we entered the water we observed them playing with seaweed with their rostrums and pectoral fins. It looked like one of the dolphins had a fresh rake mark on its face. Perhaps we will be able to match these dolphins to the DCP ID catalog once we review our video!
Later we saw 7 spotted dolphins bow riding that soon grew into a group of about twenty dolphins. We observed them underwater chasing and jawing at each other. Inka (#93, pictured here) was even playing with seaweed and we saw an un-cataloged dolphin that has been seen often this summer with half of fluke missing. Once boat time slows down, we’ll confirm whether or not this youngster is already cataloged, but has a new, substantial fluke injury, or should be added as a new individual.
As it started to get late we headed back to shore. We were all happy to spend so much time together with the active dolphins. We hope to have another great day tomorrow with this international group!
All that splashes,
Ellyne & Kali