Today - Friday – was our last full day on Roatan, unfortunately!
We finished analyzing our soil samples – yeah! We did our last morning observation at 6:30 AM – maybe we can sleep in tomorrow? The dolphins were quite curious about Dr. D but she got a full 30-minute session recorded.
After breakfast, we went to the classroom to listen to Jennifer give a talk about turtles. There are 7 different species and only the females come on land, to lay eggs. These turtles cannot retract into their shells.
DCP is pleased to offer our supporters the chance to look good in classic white tees and rash guards. Short-sleeve tees are available in adult and youth sizes. Long-sleeve tees and rash guards are available in adult sizes only.
Tees are pre-shrunk, 100% combed ringspun cotton with shoulder-to-shoulder taping and double-needle stitched sleeves and bottom hem. Adult sizes are unisex; women may want to size down for a more fitted look.
Rash guards have UPF50+ sun protection and moisture wicking.
Not only did we do research in the morning, but we swam with the dolphins, too!
Not only did we have a great breakfast followed by an interesting acoustics lecture but we swam with the dolphins, too!
Not only did we do more water sampling and dolphin behavior observations for our individual projects but we swam with the dolphins, too!
Not only did we have a spectacular lunch, but we swam with the dolphins, too!
Our swim with the dolphins was in the early afternoon.
Dolphins and Dolphins – with timing help to make our scan sample observations more efficient. We had a few students from Iowa State join us to watch the dolphins! It was a very eventful morning with dolphins that ignored Kathleen and were very social – lots of leaps! Kathleen had to retrieve a dropped-in-the-water pair of sunglasses and a towel.
A wolf discussion followed breakfast – odd since we are studying dolphins. But, Dr. Karlin’s presentation about red wolves was neat and we learned wolves can interbreed with coyotes.
It was a Long, Long Day!! But it was a very good day! We made some dolphin observations this morning – seeing much socio-sexual play. Breakfast was really good! And it fortified us for the snorkel boat trip, which was the first time for most of us on a boat and to jump off the boat into water! We saw an eagle ray, squirrelfish, parrot fish, lots and lots of starfish, many fan corals and lots of tiny fish.
Another early morning session with the dolphins allowed Kathleen to collect underwater video/audio data while the students practiced their hand at conducting scan-sampling behavior documentation of the dolphins.
Early AM (6:30 AM) adventures brought 7 of us (Sara, Toni, Emily, Paloma, Tori, Brianna & Dr. Hill) along with Kathleen to see the dolphins at Bailey’s Key for the first time. So many dolphins, so close, so curious.
It was a long bumpy day but rather easy travel to get from Houston to Roatan. To all of our families … we are all in one piece!
It is beautiful, green, hot, humid, so many trees! The water is so blue and warm. We saw a purple sea star and a sea fan.
Dixie, the mini Seabeagle, wanted to pack her toys and treats into my bags for my upcoming trip to Roatan. Alas, she'll stay home with John and enjoy her walks and treats here. Though not afraid of the water, Dixie prefers to keep her paws dry. She's observant but studying the dolphins next week would mean getting wet!
Students and professors from St. Mary's University in Texas will be joining me and DCP on Roatan from Saturday to Saturday to collect behavior and audio data on the dolphins at the Roatan Institute for Marine Sciences (RIMS).
In this issue, take a look back over the last 20 years and a glimpse forward at our upcoming programs to RIMS.