On Friday morning, Kathleen and Kel met up with the film crew to finish with interviews and last-minute details. Around mid-day, Kel and Nicole bade farewell to Kathleen who headed back to the states. It was not a sad farewell, though, because we will be seeing her again in June!
We got a bit of a late start on the boat in the afternoon because of some camera trouble but we were able to set off a bit before 2 pm. After about an hour of searching, we came across a group of about 3 bottlenose dolphins.
Though our time with “The Giants” film crew was scheduled to end on Friday, the team requested an extra morning trip on Saturday. Bimini Adventures and DCP were happy to oblige! After collecting fresh SCUBA tanks, we departed the busy Bimini harbor shortly after 9 a.m.
Monday was a busy day! While Kel prepped for the boat trip, Nicole departed Connecticut and met Kathleen at Fort Lauderdale International Airport. The wind continued to make for challenging dolphin searching, but Kathleen & Nicole still arrived on Bimini reasonably on time (despite an unruly passenger and an aborted landing!). At sea, it was more searching (and searching). But, we didn’t have to wait too long before coming upon a group of bottlenose dolphins.
Thursday morning began with a meeting between Kathleen and the film crew. While swimming with the bottlenose on Wednesday, the crew had heard an unusual vocalization that they asked Kathleen to take a look at. She was able to pull the section of audio to look at it on a spectrogram for a better understanding of the vocalization.
The weather has continued to be unseasonably challenging here in Bimini. Still, we continued our search for dolphins on Wednesday, Thursday and Friday. On Wednesday we saw bottlenose dolphins, but as with previous sightings they were on the move and showed no interest in changing their plans. Their movements combined with the rough seas made getting still photos nearly impossible. Still, I hope we’ll be able to identify at least one or two individuals. On Thursday, we spent a fair bit of time following two adult Atlantic spotted dolphins.
On Sunday, I met with the team from CINE FILMS Europe who is on Bimini for the next two weeks filming for their Ocean Giants production. We chatted about what to expect from the dolphins in the area and DCP’s research. On Monday, we left the dock at 1300 in search of dolphins. We knew the wind would not be in our favor, but at least the skies were clear! We came upon a group of bottlenose dolphins and there were plenty of them.
It's here! It's here!
Click here to download your copy of the latest Dolphin Gazette. Updates on our analyses and pending scientific papers are just a small part of this issue.
Tuesday was a busy day!! Soon after breakfast, we headed to Radio Beach for UNBSJ’s annual beach clean-up. We were grateful for this opportunity to give back to the island that has been so welcoming (and, unfortunately, on which we are leaving lots of trash). We collected a lot of garbage, separating what little can be recycled here. Back inside, we brought our week full circle with a discussion on ecotourism.
On Wednesday we all rose early as usual. The UNBSJ students packed up their things and we all had our final breakfast together. The water taxi came to the Sea Crest Hotel at 9:30 AM to take the students to the airport. They were unfortunately delayed at the airport for a few hours but they did arrive safely in Miami. Kathleen was even waiting to greet them upon their arrival in the US! They had been hearing about Dr.
DCP is pleased to share with you our breathtaking new video showcasing our research at Bimini, The Bahamas. Produced by Terramar Productions, our 2015 Bimini Video introduces you to the dolphins around Bimini, as well as the scientists studying them. Kathleen and Kel both make an appearance, as well as a number of our colleagues and collaborators (and students) and of course our Adopt-a-Wild Dolphins! DCP welcomes a number of secondary level and college level students from a variety of schools to Bimini each year.