Today started with a special, non-dolphin sighting right off the beach….any guesses? Huh? Huh? Okay, we guess we’ll tell you….It was a….manta ray!!!! We got a few good glimpses from the boat before it swam away, but everyone was impressed with its size. And although this really excited everyone, the dolphins would wind up testing our positive outlook by staying away from the boat until 1930!
Category: Bimini 2007
Dolphins in deep water
Today began with the phone link & the dolphin trip began with a snorkel stop at “Atlantis” (aka “Bimini Road”). Everyone seemed to enjoy themselves, but was eager to search for dolphins. So, we did! And we found them very close to the drop off, where the sea floor quickly gains depth before sharply dropping to about 2000 feet. At 1910 we first observed the animals in 34 feet. We entered the water with them (including Swoosh #36 and Lone Star #56) at 40 feet.
Happy Independence Bahamas!
Today is the 34th anniversary of Bahamian independence. While locals were partying, we departed a bit early to head straight to the “dolphin grounds.” At 1706, everyone took a “swim break.” Kel stayed on the bow & at 1710, called to the captain because there were 2 dolphins right there! This is probably only the second time a swim break has turned into an encounter, but it was cool! The animals present were mom & calf pair, #57 & 84 (respectively).
Weekly presentation day
Today was a good, long day….We began with our phone link to the aquarium. It has been great to see that theater filling with more people every week! After finishing up some field reports, we had time for a quick lunch at CJ’s deli before preparing for, and delivering, our weekly presentation for Bimini Undersea guests. We call it a presentation, for lack of a better word, but really it usually becomes a wonderful roundtable discussion. This week’s passengers are from all over the world, with different backgrounds & connections with the dolphins.
Start of the
Day 1 of the Dolphin Week was a success – well, sort of. We met with the passengers at 1330 before leaving the dock at 1530. Before we could even get to our snorkel stop at Rainbow Reef, we were able to get a few quick glimpses of five bottlenose dolphins. Hopefully Kel was able to get a few good ID shots, but we’ll see. The bottlenose made brief appearances a few more times today, but it was the spotteds who made a last minute, sunset appearance.
Dolphins ARE real!
Tabby may have thought that we were lying, but there really are dolphins off Bimini and DCP really does study them! We had a fantastic day today, although the dolphins took their sweet time showing up. It was 1902 when we first sighted a single spotted dolphin (Juliette, #12). She was leaping and chasing a mackerel, but she took time for a quick bow ride. As she led the boat into deeper water (> 100 feet) a group of juvenile spotteds dolphins appeared, along with a bottlenose dolphin.
A day off
If Tabby can’t get on a dolphin trip, the least we can do is go on the boat to go SCUBA diving. This was how we spent our day and it was great. We were able to accompany a Bimini Undersea dive trip to two incredible dive sites south of Bimini. The first was a drift dive and the major sighting of the dive was a good sized turtle (hawksbill turtle perhaps?). The second dive was….drum roll please….a shark dive!
Video to date?
Yay!! We finished video, we finished video, we finished video! The 7 tapes that have been recorded so far this season have all been logged (each animal in view, during each frame/segment, is identified). This means that we need to get out on the boat to record more data! Right now it looks like this will happen on Saturday. We can’t wait! Until next time, Kel &
3rd: Happy Birthday Kel!
Even though we aren’t in the United States, we allowed ourselves some time yesterday & today to enjoy the holiday spirit that can be found even in Bimini. Yesterday was Kel’s birthday, so a group of friends took us to the eastern side of Bimini where we enjoyed a lazy day in the sun. We were able to catch fresh conch for made-on-the-beach conch salad. Another first for Tabby. Her verdict? “Mighty Tasty!”
Phone Link
With still no boats trips on tap, today began with our phone link to the aquarium. It was Tabby’s first time on this side of the phone link! The afternoon was spent in front of the TV watching spot pattern after spot pattern. The plus to all of this land time is that we’re really making progress on our video logs! Until next time, Kel &
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