Our morning began as usual with data collection for DCP and Dr. D. The dolphins were especially active this morning! Paige got splashed by one of the dolphins while doing observations. We had a lively breakfast that included a birthday song for Kassandra (and Dr H. sent happy birthday wishes to Katie, her daughter!). The AKR team had a nice coconut cream pie with Happy Birthday written on the plate!
We had a very enticing cognitive lecture this morning. We learned the parallels between dolphin and human intelligence.
Our morning began with a BOOM! It was a dark and stormy morning and mother nature gave us a wake-up call with a thunder alarm. But the rain and storminess were short-lived and the skies cleared to blue from cloudy before we water-taxied to Bailey’s Key for data collection and observations. The dolphins were much more active at the surface this morning than yesterday. We observed lots of play, lots of body and pec slaps and jaw claps. We saw some speed swims and chases. We also had our first official data collection session for our own research projects.
Everyone was on time, early in fact, for our data collection session. We met at the water taxi stand at 6:45 for our boat ride to Bailey’s Key. We got to observe our first interaction with Dr. D and the dolphins. Alex P. got to play fetch with Dory with a red leaf, they played about 6 times. Emily made friends with all the resident cats on Baileys and one helped her collect data.
Our day began at ~4 AM to travel to the airport to begin our trek south. This field week on Roatan is a culmination of our spring class called PS4363 – Roatan Field Study. We were on summer break and traveled from as far as El Paso to get to San Antonio for our flight. We learned that a few of us have turbulence sensitivity! Thank goodness for pretzels and ginger-ale!
On arrival, we went through the immigration line for about an hour and then swiftly got our bags and headed via shuttle to Anthony’s Key Resort.
On Friday, the breeze in Bimini was still stiff, but with sunny skies we departed at 1500 in search of dolphins. We did not see any along the shore and the guests, who have been to Bimini many times, asked to stop at 3 Sisters for a quick snorkel. After they toured the biggest rock, we were soon on our way again…
It seemed the seas were going to get the better of us when Captain Al suddenly saw two bottlenose dolphins at the bow.
On Wednesday, I joined Bimini Adventures’ guests on “the small boat” and headed in search of dolphins. The seas were much rougher than Monday and Tuesday and while we searched for dolphins, we could see squalls building to the east. Sure enough, we never did find any dolphins, but we did find some beautiful rain storms. We were able to stay clear of the largest of the storms and while we tried to avoid the smaller, later squall, we had to accept some rain drops.
It’s not that I can pack for my field sessions in my sleep. It’s that I have a trusty “to-include” list that makes packing easy with each passing year! The MVA and hydrophones are tucked into their bag with care and cushioning. Mask, fins, snorkel are snuggled adjacent to wet suit, bathing suits and rash/sun guard shirts. The cameras are in my carryon bag along with the data notebook with blank sheets waiting for observations of dolphin behavior and vocal activity!
I’ve connected with Dr.
On Tuesday, it felt great to get back on the water and search for dolphins. Plus, this week’s guests are a couple who has been chartering Bimini Adventures for several years and I always look forward to chatting with them. The sun was shining and although the breeze was strong, the seas started out calm enough. Soon, however, clouds were building to our east and south and, with that, the seas really kicked up. As I watched Captain Al assess the weather, I felt the boat turn.
Nat used the word bittersweet in two recent posts – and the feeling applies to Friday as well. A short but strong thunderstorm woke everyone early, but soon I had my kids scooped up and piled on the golf cart. We picked up Nat and her suitcase and dropped her to the water taxi. Her five weeks on Bimini had come to an end and we were all sad to part ways.
Thursday was another day full of bittersweets. Bitter because it was my last day on the island, but sweet because of all the adventures that day held. I woke up early at the ripe time of 6:30 am to start brewing the coffee and to wrap up some of the photo IDs I had been previously working on. Then I strolled over with my fins and mask in hand over to Neal Watson’s Bimini SCUBA Center to go on a two tank morning dive.