On Wednesday we were excited to be back on the boat after a very rewarding day yesterday with so many spotted dolphins. Today the clouds rolled in, but the sea was mainly calm. We started our journey with high hopes of finding the dolphins soon as we had yesterday. As we headed north no dorsal fins were in view.
It wasn’t until we started heading back to shore, three hours into the boat trip, that we saw two spotted dolphins come to the boat. One was a sub-adult and the other was a calf and they both started bow riding. We followed this pair and soon four spotted dolphins were surrounding the boat including un-named #102. We had just seen #102 yesterday and the group was eager to point out the dolphin’s re-sighting!
As we entered the water with two calves and two sub-adults they were playing with seaweed and jawing at each other. The water was deeper and a bit murky in this area but we could still see them as they dove deep down towards the seafloor becoming more of a dolphin outline. They cruised back to the surface, sometimes belly up! As the boat circled around to attempt to regain their attention, we observed them surfing in the boat wake and then move closer to the swimmers.
Soon the dolphins were gone and we headed the rest of the way back to shore. We have had three great boat trips this week and looking forward to the next one tomorrow afternoon. In the morning, DCP has been invited to lead a dolphin discussion with the tourist group about the local dolphins and our research here in Bimini. We are looking forward to it all!
All that splashes,
Ellyne & Kali