Thursday morning, we had lecture time – topics included coral reefs, lionfish and the Bahamas Marine Mammal Stranding Network. During the network talk, we learned about DCP ID#104 (aka “Lamda”) who stranded last summer and was rescued, rehab’d and released. His tagging info was really interesting (he went so far!!) and Kel is clearly obsessed with seeing him again (see this blog post for details on his last sighting).
Our boat trip began with a snorkel stop at “The Bimini Road” (aka Atlantis, The Road to Atlantis).
On Wednesday, the gnarly wind continued so we were trapped inside – which gave the crispiest of us a break from the sun. It was very nice to have the break, but after several lectures, we were getting antsy. Our lectures covered sharks and photo-ID. In between lectures, some of us discovered The Dolphin House and got an impromptu tour from its builder, Mr. Ashley Saunders. Others visited Bimini’s “Straw Market,” just across from the Sea Crest.
On Tuesday, after breakfast, we wrote our first blog entries for DCP’s website. Then, after three days, we finally had our first lecture of the course – not complaining! Nicole gave us an overview of DCP, including their methods, study sites and species. Next up, the first teams presented their assigned cetacean research papers before lunch. Luckily, the weather cooperated enough for us to get out on the water.
On Monday, officially the best day of Mia’s life, we shifted our boat schedule and departed shortly after 10 a.m. The weather forecast for mid-week is windy, so we’re trying to get in lots of experiences before potentially getting stuck on shore. Before we even reached our destination, we saw three loggerhead turtles. We got really great views of two confirmed males, and a possibly third male. As we continued on, we saw another turtle on our way to Honeymoon Harbor. As we pulled up, we immediately saw southern stingray, a green turtle and nurse sharks.
Nicole, Manon and I are thrilled to have Dr. Turnbull and students from UNBSJ back for their Bimini field course! We hope you enjoy the student blog posts for the rest of the week.
-Kel
On Sunday morning, we flew to Bimini in two tin cans. Well, okay, there were two planes, but they were really small! They got us to Bimini around 10:30 a.m. We left the airport and in no time were at the South Bimini water taxi dock.
After the cancellation of Friday’s trip due to bad sea conditions, I was able to join Bimini Adventures’ guests once again on Saturday morning. And it didn’t take time before we find some dolphins, just half an hour…
A dozen bottlenose dolphins were feeding not far from the shore, accompanied by few nurse sharks! The group was mostly composed by the same individuals that we saw earlier. The guests got into the water and observed them few minutes, before moving on for spotted dolphins.
Are you singing the song now? I began my day with Kel and her two kids, learning about – sharks! We had a private tour of the Bimini Biological Field Station (aka SharkLab). With preschool attention spans in mind, Chessie took us straight out to the pens. Here, we had a nice encounter with Dave the nurse shark and a lemon shark we nicknamed “Sour.” We got lots of great information and even got to touch (kids) and hold (grownups) Dave.
On Wednesday, I was able to join my first official DCP dolphin trip with Bimini Adventures. We left the Sea Crest marina around 1:30pm to look for dolphins. After two hours of searching and despite our twelve eyes scanning the sea, nothing.
We’ve observed dolphins engage in a variety of behaviors from exchanging contacts to chasing one another to vocalizing to creating bubble bursts. They produce behaviors singly or in combination, by themselves or with peers. We’ve documented unique actions and typical interactions. But, what we’d not, until recently, examined was whether dolphins could be creative. And if so, maybe we could figure out just how creative they could be.
Manon is in Bimini during DCP’s off-season, doing data analyses her Master’s project. But, that doesn’t mean she doesn’t want a chance to see the dolphins! Soon after arriving, she and Kel went in search of #104 (“Lamda”), but didn’t see any dolphins. Here, Manon describes finally getting to see the Bimini dolphins!
“Several weeks have passed and after few failing attempts to go out for dolphins because of poor weather conditions, last Thursday was the day. DCP did not have any research trips scheduled, so I played tourist and joined a dolphin trip from North Bimini.