Maya Key, Sharks and Research

Another early morning session with the dolphins allowed Kathleen to collect underwater video/audio data while the students practiced their hand at conducting scan-sampling behavior documentation of the dolphins. This morning session was productive for the students but somewhat less so for Kathleen because of Ronnie and French’s interest in her fins, which made swimming difficult!

 

After the morning research, we took the AKR bus over to Maya Key – actually the bus then a boat to visit the Key where some of us snorkeled with sharks and rays, some of use collected water samples for pH and temp data, and others of us helped, watched or swam. You can see Lupe and Ina pointing out a fish to Dr. Karlin (who took the photo). In addition to these activities, we all got to visit the Mayan temple replica and the numerous animals residing on the key as rescues. These include a jaguar, margay, ocelots, SA sea lions, hawk bill turtles, Toucans, Parrots (several types) and more.

 

Our afternoon included more dolphin observations followed by a talk by Jennifer Keck on coral reefs, dinner and then more dolphin stuff – i.e., watching videos of the RIMS dolphins. It was a full day!

 

Until tomorrow,

 

Kathleen & StMU’s “Rattlers in Roatan”