On Wednesday, Kali and Ellyne experienced their first dolphin-less boat trip while Kel stayed on shore. It was also the windiest day yet on the boat for both of them! The waters around the harbor didn’t seem too choppy and looked beautiful, as they were bright teal. Once we reached open waters we soon realized it was going to be a bumpy ride. At the beginning of the trip, the students sitting on the bow were splashed frequently as they tried to search for dolphins.
Category: Blog & Field Reports
The catch of the day
On Monday we welcomed the new incoming student course from New York. We were thrilled meet the Hunter College & Manhattan College students, as well as their professors. We introduced the students to the DCP still cameras and slates, given them instructions and pointers on collecting images for photo-ID. All three of us were able to join this large group on the boat today! The researchers, DCP and NYC-alike, were eager to collect videos and sound recordings with the assistance of the students.
Name That Dolphin!
Tuesday was another great day with Bimini Adventures’ group visiting from New York. To start the day, Kel gave the students a lecture on photo-identification and the importance being able to identify individuals. At the end of her presentation, Kel let the students practice identifying individuals. She gave them a photo and asked them to name the dolphin in it based off photos of a subset of individuals in DCP’s catalog. They were able to identify Trudy (#57) quickly from her distinctive dorsal fin. Others, like Addie (#84) took a bit more time.
A dry but busy Saturday!
On Saturday we started the 4th of July off with a dolphin lecture aboard the Coral Reef II (Shedd Aquarium). We took a small dingy out to the boat and we were happy to teach the Chicago area high school students about DCP and the spotted and bottlenose dolphins found off Bimini. The students had great questions about the local impacts of construction and the dolphin population and interspecies mating. They enjoyed posing for photos with the mini MVA camera system.
Wave Jumping Calves!
Thursday was another long day out on the boat for the new DCP interns. They left the shore around noon and didn’t get back until sunset. We hoped that we may have gotten a few more sightings in with the early departure time but that didn’t seem to be the case on Thursday. Today at least, the dolphins around Bimini just weren’t that active earlier in the day. It wasn’t until around four that we had our first sighting: A mother calf pair of spotted dolphins zipped by the boat.
An Afternoon Adventure with Bottlenose
Kali and Lauren were the intern-duo on Wednesday’s boat trip. It was Kali’s first time getting out and search for the dolphins so she was pretty excited after hearing all about Ellyne’s encounters yesterday. We left the dock around noon with our expectations set high. The waters were clear and bright blue with the sun glimmering off the surface. As we cruised along so did the time with no sightings of dolphins. Around three Kali started to get worried that she wouldn’t get the chance to see anything on her first day out.
Spotteds! Bottlenose! Together?!
Monday’s boat trip began early as the camera crew wanted as much time on the water as possible! Lauren was the only one on the boat today, and with a departure shortly after 9:00am, dolphins were nowhere to be found until around 11:45. Then we came across a group of about 13 spotteds! In the group were Stefran (#82) and her little calf, along with unnamed #102! The group did not seem too interested in people, and after a while they scattered about looking for and chasing after fish.
Spending the day with spotteds!
Tuesday was an excellent day on the boat for interns Ellyne and Lauren. We started before noon and found 10 spotted dolphins an hour later. The group included Lil Jess (#35, pictured here) with a calf and Leslie (#80) who was, somewhat surprisingly, still hanging out with her older calf, unnamed (#99). We had thought that #99 was independent from mom this year, but perhaps they are still transitioning.
Welcome 2015 Summer Interns!
Today the new interns, Ellyne (left) and Kali (right), arrived in Bimini! Though Kel wasn’t there to welcome them, Lauren was! Read about their first day on the rock below:
Having just spent the last month training with and assisting Kathleen at DCP’s Florida office, we were awed by the contrast of the waters surrounding the island as we flew over. Dark blues faded into brilliant teals as the shoreline approached. After settling into our new lodging, we were happy to explore the area and see what North Bimini has to offer.
Lazy dolphins….but wait!
Today’s boat trip was interesting to say the least! We started the voyage with a snorkel stop at “3 Sisters,” then soon after came upon a group of about fourteen spotteds! In the group were Stefran (#82) and Romeo (#10); Stefran had her calf close and we got a couple of glimpses of Romeo with a calf close by. We are very hopeful that this is Romeo’s March baby! It was definitely exciting to see the playful bunch; unfortunately they were not interested in swimming with us.
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