With the wind in our faces, and rocking the boat, we were hopeful that Tuesday’s boat trip would bring some cooperative dolphins. The students were fresh off some great juvenile spotted and crater feeding bottlenose observations (Sunday) and Caribbean reef shark and southern stingray interactions (Monday). I was ever hopeful that my presence wouldn’t break their luck…
Sure enough, at 16:28, Dr. E saw several dolphins surfing the swells right toward us! It was a very cool sight to see. We counted at least 19 dolphins, but with the rough conditions, I could only recognize Stefran (#82) from the boat. Surfing dolphins usually don’t break from their activity to swim with us, but this group did let us get a nice look at them as they passed by under water. Back on the boat, we worked hard to keep the scattered dolphins in view; at one point, there were only five dolphins, then three, then seven…it seemed the group size was always changing. I was happy to see Tina (#14), with her older calf, and Lil’ Jess (#35) and Swoosh (#36) from the boat. During our second underwater observation, we got a closer look at Lil’ Jess, and a nice observation of Paul (#99) and un-named #102 with other juveniles, some who I recognized and some who I did not. The juveniles were very energetic and we were amazed when they all simply bolted! Scratching our heads, we headed back to shore wondering what called them away…
This group of students has two more boat trips on tap. I’m wishing them luck!
Until next time,
Kel