Category: Blog & Field Reports

On Thursday, I was able to join the team of visiting researchers who have chartered Bimini Adventures to explore their 360-degree camera and hydrophone system designed to record bow riding dolphins. It was great to catch up with these folks, whom I’ve had the pleasure of knowing for years now.

So much of my spring and summer revolves around advertising for interns, interviewing potential interns, preparing for interns, meeting interns, working with interns…and then they are gone! Poof! This year’s team, which included first-year interns Tori, Patrick and Kaiya, was absolutely phenomenal. But, as August rolled around, I knew that one-by-one, I’d be saying, “See you later” to each of them. And, now, as planned, they have all said goodbye to Bimini and returned to their other lives…
So, on Thursday I prepped for my first intern-less dolphin trip in quite a while. And, then it rained. And rained.

Tuesday was a bittersweet day for the Bimini DCP crew.

After almost six weeks on this island, it was difficult to accept that Saturday’s boat trip would be the last for Tori and Kaiya. The Renegade has been where we’ve spent almost every afternoon and evening this summer; it’s been our “office,” our vehicle of exploration, our means of collecting important data for the Dolphin Communication Project, and the very hub of our research efforts and relationship building. Aboard the Renegade, we’ve weathered rough seas and endured rain and squalls, thunder and lightning, days without dolphins, scorching heat and sun, and have genuinely loved every minute of it.

Friday morning offered a new and exciting opportunity for Tori and Kaiya to step into the education side of DCP’s mission. After watching Kel lead information sessions for eco-tours and school groups throughout the summer, it was our turn to step up and take the lead. We did some preparation, then biked over to the Sea Crest where we met up with this week’s eco-tour group. On top of it being our first DCP presentation, we had the added element of utilizing a translator as we were presenting to a group of native French speakers.

Thursday started off on a somber note, as it came with the realization that one of our Trio members was leaving us later that morning.

The two species of dolphins found in the Peruvian Amazon are the pink dolphins (Inia geoffrensis) (front photo with this report) and the gray dolphins (Sotlaia fluviatillis) below.  However, similar to beluga whales, pink dolphins are born gray, almost black, and loose pigmentation as they age.

After a rough, short, dolphin-less day yesterday, we were very excited to get back out on the boat on Wednesday. We were even more excited because it was Patrick’s birthday! Although, unfortunately, it was also his last day. After a celebratory lunch at the Bimini Big Game Club and a quick swim, we gathered our gear and headed to the boat for our 2pm departure.

So after a few days of poor weather conditions thanks to Tropical Storm Emily, and a few  cancelled boat trips, The Trio was excited to get back aboard the Renegade on Tuesday for some field work! Unfortunately, there were still some squalls in the area, and some rough seas once outside the channel, but the Renegade was determined to give it a try for the sake of Bimini Adventures’ new eco-tour group and see if we could find some dolphins.

Saturday morning came and went in a similar fashion to most work day for DCP interns. We made progress on our usual tasks and also spent some time reviewing the underwater footage that Patrick took yesterday. This allowed us to identify more of the dolphins that were seen while simultaneously practicing our ID skills with the new spots that the dolphins may have developed over the past year, since they were last photographed.