The week before travel (especially field research and field courses) always feels hectic, even when extra time is set aside to pack, prepare, and just get ready for two weeks of data collection and field courses! This week has been no different. And, the added logistics related to Covid-19 negative tests, vaccination cards, and pre-check registration(s) had all of us double checking our packing lists and paperwork (multiple times!)!
Shane and I coordinated with the CSU student group (who you’ll meet in tomorrow’s blog post) to get everyone’s precheck documentation completed, and to answer any last minute questions.
Our last day of data collection began well with a light breeze and little surface chop. Sadly, the underwater visibility was not great – very silty, green water with lots of suspended particulates. Kathleen was able to collect about 25 minutes of video and watched Elli and Lenca play a bit and circled close to Kathleen and the MVA (pictured). Bailey swam by and echolocated on the MVA and Kathleen.
Our second to last day of research and observations was full! We collected MVA data this morning. We had several create sessions with Teri and Maury, Tilly, Gracie, Bailey, Callie, Elli, and Poli throughout the day. And, throughout the week we’ve confirmed the revised details for collecting “space use data” in the main lagoon by the dolphins. The space use data are collected during DCP eco-tours and our field courses with college students.
We began our day at Bailey’s Key with flashes of “My Octopus Teacher” … there was an octopus in the shallow area to the side of the dock as we walked out to the platform for Kathleen’s entry to observe the dolphins. The octopus was stretched out and multi-colored – we really received a show. It was wonderful to watch! It was a nice way to begin a session observing animal behavior!
The morning session was good despite the heavy rainfall between 3 and 5 AM.
Our day started EARLY – most of us woke early and watched the sunrise (~5:15 AM). Our first observation session was preceded by space-use data collection. This brings our total number of research projects this week to three: behavior observations with the MVA, collecting creativity data on the female dolphins, and recording how dolphins use their lagoon and the various spaces in this lagoon.
There was a lot of object play during the first AM session and the dolphins actually showed interest in our surface observers (Bill, Ron, Rachel & Heather).
We had a very busy day! It began with an early morning observation session and included a second morning session about 1.5 hours later. During the first session, the dolphins were again silent except for echolocation clicks that seemed to be “whispered” at me when I was in the northeast corner of the lagoon area (near the water taxi arrival area). The dolphins were very focused on “something” (what we don’t know) off the reef to the north of Bailey’s and Anthony’s Keys.
We celebrated Melissa’s birthday after dinner with a delicious chocolate cake! Of course, that also meant that the rest of us had to clandestinely sign the birthday card when Melissa was not around (thank you to Heather for capturing our sneaky signing!).
Celebrating Melissa’s birthday was a great way to wrap up our first full day at AKR!
We had two data collection sessions with Champ the first to swim by my MVA and “say” hello. He made several circle swims around my camera in the first morning session.
The underwater visibility was very good today.
DCP's first ecotour group since the COVID-19 pandemic derailed life as we all know it returned to Roatan and Anthony’s Key Resort today. (insert sigh of relief here!)
We traveled from California (Bill), Texas (Melissa, Rachel, Heather), Missouri (Ron), and Florida (me) … and even though travel was long and mostly normal, it was still a travel day! And we were all glad to return to AKR.
It was a bit windy this afternoon and early evening, but the sun was shining and the sea calm. And Heather and I went over the Bailey’s to greet the dolphins.
Bring some dolphin love to your Valentine's Day this year!
This has been a very productive week here at Anthony’s Key Resort (AKR) and The Roatan Institute for Marine Sciences (RIMS) for me and DCP. With Ron’s assistance, I was able to collect about 6.5 hours of video data with the MVA and GoPro cameras. (I’ll be busy for a few months logging these clips!) The weather mostly held for us – the underwater visibility was great and the current strength was variable (I earned my breakfast most mornings!).