We just finished dinner, which was preceded by our first ever, collectively night snorkel. Some of us were lucky enough to see a lionfish or an octopus or a sea cucumber! We also saw a puffer fish. We entered the water at dusk and then exited when it was fully dark. It was eerie and surreal at the same time.
The afternoon had a break before our night snorkel that allowed some of us to kayak or paddleboard … or nap.
Our morning began with a downpour! And yet, we all got to the water taxi stand before Kathleen and Justin! Luckily, the rain subsided as we began our first session of space use data collection. Today was our visit to Maya Key.
Our first day was a good one with everyone up and at the taxi dock before 6:30 AM for our first data collection session! The dolphins were playful and social – mostly with each other, which was a good thing! Champ and Stan occasionally sought out Kathleen’s fins to play and one or two dolphins tried to entice one or more of us to play the seaweed game but we resisted.
Breakfast (and lunch and dinner for that matter) were as delicious as Justin promised in our various pre-trip meetings.
Our ecotour group departed this morning and the URI students arrived mid-afternoon. We hit the ground running with their initial orientation on arrival followed by Jennifer’s facility orientation even before they went to their rooms to check things out and unpack their bags. The students were troupers considering their travel started at ~1:00 AM with a ride to the airport, then two flights, and a shuttle bus ride to get to AKR and RIMS.
We had a great day with the sun rising brightly and the sky relatively free of clouds. And, really good, clear underwater visibility.
I have a dedicated team of participants with me this week – Manon, Rachel, Ron, Bill, Madison, Jeff, and John all joined me at 6:30 for the AM data collection session. The water was ok for clarity but the current was strong! The dolphins were curious and playful and the cameras persnickety!
Yes, technology was a tad bit of an issue. For reasons unknown, the GoPro decided not to record any of the session, though it had the red camera thingee suggesting it was recording.
I could not ask for anything more … ok, well, except maybe a tad less current to swim against! I earned my breakfast this morning and more than once felt like the dolphins were chuckling at me as I tried to keep up with them as they seemingly effortlessly glided across the current and the wavelets. Tilly and calf and Maury swam by several times this morning.
The sun greeted us today (7 Jan 2020)! It was a welcome site after 1.5 days of wind, rain and more wind and rain, as well as choppy seas and waves. The divers in our group had to be ready by 7:30 for their first boat dive as the boats were still on the west side of Roatan. So, it was Manon and Rachel for surface observations with Madison and Jeff assisting for the first ~half of the session this morning.
Our dedicated eco-tourists joined me at 6:30 to try to collect data. The current was wickedly strong and there were rolling waves breaking over the reef. You can see in the photo me getting out after ~3 minutes in the water. There is a dolphin watching me … I got in and then swam hard to get to the side to get out. The storm front meant that the staff moved the floating platforms to one side of the large lagoon area.
It rained all day and was stormy.
The CSU group helped me collect data this morning and we did one more each of baseline and KD space use data collection. It was a breezy morning but the underwater visibility was really good! And, the dolphins were social, but mostly below the water surface.
After data collection, we had breakfast and then the CSU group left for the airport. They were all traveling much today to return home and prepare for school. We had a great week!
Arriving today were Bill, Ron, Madison, Jeff, Rachel, Manon, and John for our research eco-tour.
Whether you’re a young student interested in learning more about dolphin biology, a college student looking for internship experiences working with dolphins, or a seasoned researcher hoping to connect with colleagues on topics of dolphin behavior, ecology, or cognition, you’ve come to the right place.
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