Category: Bimini 2005

But, the afternoon turned out beautifully!This morning we had an extra dolphin trip, with passengers who were just with us on the boat for the day. Unfortunately for them, the east wind had only strengthened, leaving us with uncomfortably rough seas. We were able to see a group of at least 8 bottlenose dolphins not far from shore. We observed them for about 10 minutes before braving the seas and heading north in hopes of finding spotteds.

A snorkel stop at Atlantis, but no dolphins This afternoon started with our weekly presentation on DCP to our passengers. And we have to say, we have had a great week with a group of thoroughly excited guests, who are eager to swim with these graceful animals, yet hold the highest respect for them and their ocean home. Just the kind of people we like to have aboard and just the kind of people that make our presentation worthwhile.

But we head out to the dolphin grounds anyway…   Today we headed out to the dolphin grounds hoping the seas would calm down. Unfortunately the east wind continued strong, and once out of the protection of the island, the seas were a bit uncomfortable. But, we held strong and were able to observe a group of approximately 10 spotteds, including #1, #17 (Lumpy) and we think #15 (Freckles). 6 of the animals, including those three, didn’t stick around long.

We’ll see how the footage comes outToday was Day 1 of a full Dolphin Week. These passengers will be with us on the boat through Thursday—and if the rest of the week goes as well as today, we’ll have a LOT of video to go through next week! We also had a reporter onboard from the Tampa CBS affiliate.

2 Uninterested Spotteds Today was an “extra” trip, not the start of the dolphin week. We had a great group of passengers who were on the boat just for today. That always adds a little extra pressure for our boat crew to hopefully find dolphins. We did find a group of 2-3 spotteds at 18:16, but they were not interested in the boat. There were mackerel in the area, and although it did not exactly look like the dolphins were feeding, they did seem more interested in the fish than us.

So, we’ll catch up on data and wait out the stormsSo, it’s a quiet couple of days, except at night when the serious thunderstorms roll in. We’ll spend it catching up on data and other errands and planning for next week, when our first full dolphin week begins. Just like last year, we will have a group of people who will be with us on the boat all week (Sunday – Wednesday or Thursday).

Where is the sun?     Today was our first morning trip of the season—a make-up trip for yesterday’s cancellation. Unfortunately, there were no dolphins. In fact, we only lasted about an hour on the boat before it was decided that we had to turn back and we were back to the dock before 11:00.

Cancelled thanks to Mother Nature     So, this morning was spent entering data sheets into the computer and getting ready for the afternoon trip. But, once we made our way down to the dock, it was pretty clear that the boat would not be going out.

With no dolphins  Today’s trip was filled with excited passengers, eager to see dolphins. Unfortunately, the seas had other plans for us. Our captain took us on an abbreviated pattern through the dolphin grounds in an attempt to keep the boat in the calmest situation possible. That didn’t prevent our youngest passenger from looking quite green.

And a day off doesn’t get much better than this… Following Kathleen’s advice, Darcie and I make sure to take a complete day off from dolphins every so often—really, truly a day off. This can be hard to do, but it means no dolphin related emailing, no video logs, no peaking at the catalog—not even a field report (so we are writing this on the 18th!). Well, today was that day for us.