Wednesday was a day full of bittersweets as we had to say goodbye to our friend and intern Frankie. Frankie and I were able to spend the morning together in our usual roommate routine of making a big pot of coffee and working on photo sorting and blog writing. Then we were invited over to Kel’s house to help celebrate Captain Al’s birthday. We had hamburgers and salads for lunch and then topped it off with a delicious chocolate cake.
Tuesday morning was a hard wakeup for me- it was my last full day on Bimini. With the boat trip being cancelled Monday, I was glad Nat and I had the opportunity to explore the island. But I was very excited to get back on the boat and spend my last day here searching for dolphins.
Nat and I started off with our usual morning routine of a large pot of coffee and a few hours of work before prepping for our afternoon boat ride.
Monday was a quiet day for Frankie and me, but there are no complaints here! After making a big pot of coffee we continued to work on photo sorting and video logs to get our hours in. We worked on data all morning and then Kel informed us that there would be no boat trip that afternoon. Although we were excited to go out on the boat, we decided to take a break and explore the island instead since it is sadly our last week here.
On Friday, Kel had told us about the vet clinic she was helping run this weekend. With the lack of veterinarians and abundance of strays on Bimini, the vet clinic that happens 3-4 times a year is extremely helpful for the animals on the island. Since I had gotten a lot of work done on Saturday, I decided to spend a few hours volunteering with Kel on Sunday. Nat decided to sit this one out since she isn’t great around blood and was still getting through the video logs.
While there were no boat trips this weekend, Nat and I still kept busy. We woke up Friday morning planning on going on a dive; however the heavy thunderstorms pushed it off to the afternoon. By noon the sun was out and we walked over to Neal Watson’s Scuba Center for the 1 pm two-tank dive.
Our first dive was a shallow dive through an old shipwreck (The Sapona) where Nat and I saw some gorgeous corals and plenty of rays. Nat was even able to point out a scorpion fish to me (her favorite fish).
It was another stormy morning early Thursday in Bimini, but luckily the skies cleared enough for another lovely day on the boat. Nat and I started our morning once again with some work and a large pot of coffee before beginning our prep for the boat.
Our day started a little earlier than the previous few days and we were able to stop and snorkel “The Bimini Road,” a famous snorkel spot off of North Bimini.
After getting a feel for what the educational talks were like on Tuesday, I was extremely excited for our talk Wednesday morning on the Shedd Aquarium boat. As a Chicago native, I was raised going to the Shedd- I even brought my favorite Shedd hat to Bimini! Nat and I woke up early to make some breakfast and coffee before meeting up with Kelly and jumping on the skiff to head to Coral Reef 2 (CRII).
CRII was an absolutely gorgeous boat and all the kids were super excited to have us on board.
This past Tuesday was another great day on the island! Frankie has been settling in well as the newest intern and has already grown accustomed to island life (cockroaches and all). We have grown to become quite the intern team, and she has already grasped the ropes of all the data processing, photo sorting, and data entry that goes on behind the scenes at the DCP. On Tuesday we helped Kel give a small presentation/ discussion to the guests at the Sea Crest.
Monday was my fifth day on the island and I feel completely at home. So far, I have biked to get my groceries, seen a bull shark and stingray from the dock, and killed two cockroaches. Nat taught me how to enter data from different trips and tricks on how to ID bottlenose and spotted dolphins from pictures. After spending a few days doing computer work, it was finally time to have my first boat trip and get in on the action.
Saturday sure was a busy day! It was the last day that we got to join Behind the Mask out on the Sea Crest boat for fun dolphin searching. The day before I was able to finally meet the new intern, Frankie, and help her get acquainted with Bimini. I’m so excited to get to work with her and show her all the ropes of the DCP!
I think Captain Al can agree when I say, we got extremely lucky about the boat traffic on Saturday’s boat adventures.