Category: Bimini 2004

Sunday’s passengers were only here for the day, so everyone was hoping for a great encounter! We found dolphins just past north rock, which is closer to the island than most of our sightings. It was an adult and a calf, and it was the calf’s leaping and splashing that caught our attention. Once we caught up to the pair, we saw that the youngster was one of the dolphins we saw on Tuesday. Recognized by a notch in the peduncle, we saw that today the calf had a new injury to its right side.

    The conclusion of our first dolphin week has left us 7 for 7 in sightings and encounters–seeing dolphins 7 trips in a row is rare. We had a great group of passengers who were very interested in the dolphins and our research and even helped us with IDs! Our talk with passengers on Monday to introduce the research was very well received.

Darcie arrives in Bimini on June 16 This is a special guest field report from Darcie Blanding! I arrived on Bimini on 16 June to spend a month learning from Kathy and Kelly. I brought the Top Dawg housing with me so we now have it as well as the MVA1 to continue the spotted dolphin research for 2004. I've spent the last two days getting acquainted with the island, taking bike rides with the girls to learn locations.

Here in Bimini, DCP researchers go on dolphin encouter boats operated by Bimini Undersea. Most of Bimini Undersea’s dolphin trips are in the form of week-long programs in which the same group of passengers comes on the boat each day, Sunday through Thursday. This gives passengers a chance to experience multiple kinds of encounters and learn a bit more about the dolphins.
    Today’s trip started out slowly, but around 6 o’clock we came across a group of six bottlenose dolphins, one of which looked quite young.

    After not being out on the boat for over a week, Saturday’s trip was a success. Found dolphins just before six o’clock and they stayed with us for an hour. From the surface we observed a large group of adults engaged in what appeared to be mating. Once in the water, the first two encounters were with 3 subadults who were moderately interactive with the passengers.

A very successful visit with the dolphins Yesterday was our first trip out to the dolphingrounds and we had multiple successful encounters. The boat was crowded but there were plenty of dolphins for everyone. The first encounter was with a mother and calf – the mother we believe to be 56, a common visitor to our boats last year, and we believe her new calf.

Getting the apartment set up and waiting for dolphins Well, we've arrived and finally have internet access! We got here on Monday night and have spent the past few days reacquainting ourselves with the island and all our friends from last year. It's great to be back and I think we're finally settled in and… Continue reading Settling in again

A calm day this morning, but no boat trips. Typhoon #4 spent the day moving north over Okinawa – on the very western side of Japan. It is sending wave swells and wind and rain our way but will not go over us directly. We are waiting to see if the ferry arrives tomorrow bringing with it the students from Camp Zama.

It rained off and on today and no boats went out to sea for dolphin watching. We did not even see any dolphins from the pier in the morning or late afternoon hours.

Kelly and Kathy prep to go back to the islands Things are mostly in order and we are getting ready to go back to Bimini to start DCP's 4th field season on the island – and Kelly and Kathy's second. This summer we'll have the Top Dawg housing and camera like last year, but also MVA1 without the click detector, and an underwater digital camera so we should have plenty of pictures to share with you! We should arrive with any luck in the early afternoon on June 7th.