You can rock an awesome DCP shirt this spring…and summer…and fall…You get the idea! We are pleased to offer the chance to pre-order DCP shirts, including, for the first time, stylish, flowy women’s tanks. This special order period ends on March 7, 2018. Shirts and bundles are expected to ship on or before April 2nd. USPS Priority shipping is included in the price of the shirts. Regrettably, we can currently only ship to US & Canadian addresses. All shirt purchases help fund our research and education efforts.
I spent two weeks on Roatan with two engaged, energetic and enthusiastic groups of students. One from Colorado State University and one from the University of Rhode Island (URI). Collectively, we were able to record a bit more than four hours of video data in nine early morning sessions. Mother Nature threw quite a bit of rain, wind and waves at us during both weeks but kicked it up a notch during our second week at Anthony's Key Resort and the Roatan Institute for Marine Sciences.
It was the most beautiful day so far this week because the sun greeted us as we took the taxi boat to Bailey’s Cay! We did a full 30 min observation session despite the very strong current and the cheeky, rambunctious dolphins. The dolphins were very active today; they were very social at the surface also. We did pretty well recognizing the dolphins who swam by our observation posts.
After dolphin observations, we had a scrumptious breakfast followed by a data analysis session where we taught Kathleen how to use “BORIS,” a behavioral coding software.
Due to inclement weather, we were unable to venture over to Bailey’s Cay this morning for observations. We slept in and then enjoyed breakfast. After breakfast, we went to the other side of the island for a snorkel trip. The boat ride to the snorkel was bumpy but it was extremely fun because we were given the opportunity to drive the boat. The snorkel was incredible and the biodiversity was incredible which included lion fish, queen angel, trigger fish file fish and more.
This morning was a lesson in flexibility. We had an interesting morning – we got onto the taxi boat, headed for Bailey’s Cay with high hopes for another dolphin observation session. The current had other ideas and refused our landing request. It was the first time ever that Kathleen saw the taxi boat not able to smoothly land against the dock at Bailey’s Cay.
So, we came back and had a pre-breakfast nap and then enjoyed a warm leisurely breakfast before we spent the morning analyzing video data to confirm dolphin IDs in the footage from yesterday.
We finally did a full observation session! It was crazy to be able to do a full session. The dolphins were surprisingly quiet – not a lot of surface action in general and very uninterested in us on the docks. The water and the weather were pleasantly calmer this morning compared to the previous days! The 30 min observation session went by really fast! It was cool to go around the docks for this session and see the dolphins in other areas of the enclosure.
We had a quick continental breakfast and then headed over to Bailey’s Cay to make dolphin observations. It was not raining, but the currents were still strong and the wind blowing and underwater visibility was not awesome. Kathleen did get in the water and collected about 5 minutes of video – before the current dictated that she exit … on the other side of the enclosure! We got to see quite a few bellies when the dolphins came over to say hi before Kathleen got in the water.
We met the dolphins this morning – all were very nice and we felt right at home! We could not tell if the squeaks and whistles were from the dolphins or us! Kathleen was not able to collect observations because the current was very strong as was the wind. But, she introduced us to the individual dolphins. We met Tilly, Dory, Bailey and her calf, Champ, Ronnie and Callie and Elli. Polly brought us seaweed to play with.
At about 4:30 AM, it sounded like a freight train was speeding by our room(s)! The predicted northern storm front had arrived with a vengeance. Luckily (so far) this is a “dry” front … meaning lots and lots of strong wind but no rain. The last CSU data collection session this morning was cancelled because the winds would have made collecting surface observations very difficult and because the water current would likely have swept Kathleen away (almost)!
Still, the CSU group had a delicious, hearty breakfast followed by a chat about gender roles in science.
We had another sunny beautiful morning that was all quiet on the surface during our observation session. It could be said that it was “all quiet on the western front!” More often than not we were able to recognize the dolphins that swam by our observation stations. And, Bailey’s calf was being a dolphin and was swimming between several different other dolphins. Several of the dolphins had new rake marks, so they must have had fun last night! Several of the dolphins were throwing seaweed above the surface, almost like playing catch with each other.