Category: Bimini 2005

Bottlenose and spotteds togetherToday, our eighth boat trip of the 2005 season, was pretty productive. With a seriously full boat (3 crew, 2 researchers and 13 guests), we came upon a group of 10 bottlenose at 1704. We observed them from the boat for about 10 minutes before venturing further into the dolphin grounds in search of spotteds. We found this group, with several bottlenose, at 1837, just as passengers were giving up hope for the day.

When will things really flatten out?First thing’s first: We were able to fix the controls on the MVA reasonably easily this morning. A major source of stress relieved, so we are very happy.
    Next, the boat was filled with happy passengers, including a few extra guests, as the seas had flattened somewhat, although they are still rougher than we like. We began the trip with a snorkel stop at Atlantis and listened to Audley’s (member of Bimini Undersea’s crew) lovely briefing on the history behind the sight.

Bottlenose first, spotteds second, bottlenose third  Things are ever so slightly calmer today, but still rougher than suggested by weather reports. At least today our mildly seasick passengers were able to get a glimpse of both bottlenose and spotted dolphins. We sighted a group of at least 12 bottlenose dolphins right before 1700, and the group scattered a bit, but stayed in view for about 40 minutes. Once we lost sight of this group, we went in search of spotteds and found them (or they found us) just before 1800.

A nice group of passengers, but no dolphins. So, as we were saying yesterday, organized storms, such as a tropical storm or hurricane, can wreak havoc on an area for days after they pass. But, since it was technically safe to go out into the dolphin grounds today, that is what we did. However, with very frequent white caps, and reasonable swells, finding dolphins proved to be too big of a challenge.

While we wait for Tropical Storm Arlene to go away!     So, where did we leave off? Right, yesterday we did big grocery shopping in anticipation of propane for our stove. We bought staples such as ramen noodles, but also a few treats like Yoplait yogurt. Being here makes you appreciate how accessible fresh food is in the states! And, since grocery shopping here entails visiting no less than three markets, it took a good couple of hours to get things done.

Our first experience with shipping things to Bimini is a success.We spent this morning setting up a nice display featuring DCP and our Adopt-A-Dolphin program. This display will hopefully remain in the Bimini Undersea dive shop; however, will probably be moved around a few times before everyone agrees on where it can stay.

Rough sea conditions made for an uneventful, rocky trip     Apparently it is the rainy season—still. Today, Mother Nature made sure to remind us that she is in charge. With Tropical Storm Arlene no where near us (South of Cuba right now), she is still managing to cause a lot of cloud cover, rough seas, and sporadic rain showers/torrential downpours.

A nice day with surprisingly curious bottlenose dolphins…     Every morning we seem to wake up to clouds, but at least this afternoon the sun was shining for our boat trip. With some extra folks joining us today, we were geared up for not only using the MVA1 to record video and acoustic data, but also to start using our digital still cameras.

But another great trip…Darcie is here! An early morning start and delays in Florida because of Air Force One couldn’t stop her. And she arrived a few hours early- instead of getting in at 1600, Darcie arrived with plenty of time to unpack and head straight to the boat—no nap for her!
    The trip was another good one, even if all of our footage isn’t very useful for research projects. There was a large group (20+) of spotteds, of all age classes, to start the sighting.

Dolphins, dolphins, dolphins, no sea lice!Okay, so I am going to warn you all now that I am writing this while still reveling in the high that resulted from today’s boat trip. The weather was overcast, and there were plenty of dolphin fake-outs, but, shortly after 1800, we saw them! A large group (at least 15 animals) of Atlantic spotted dolphins. We were able to observe nearly everything that would be taught in “Dolphins 101.” When we came upon the dolphins, they had a school of fish nicely contained in a bait ball.