Category: Japan 2004

A surprise boat trip thanks to Typhoon #6. Yes, it is true the effects of the 6th typhoon are being felt at Mikura with the increasing height of the waves and the decreasing visbility because of the waves against the shore. But, an unseen effect is that almost all the ~120 guests that were to visit Mikura this weekend, cancelled. The island is oddly quiet for a weekend.

The sea to the NE and E of Mikura was the best for observing dolphins and the visbility was typically less than 3-4 m and was silty.

Only two days had passed, but while in port it felt like eternity. Then, just before noon, Souji-san called. His boat, Souei-maru, was going out again at 13:30 and I was invited. Hurray! We left at 13:26 just as the tardy ferry was stopping to pick up tourists returning to Tokyo. Immediately, we saw dolphins. Too close to the pier to enter the water, but there was another sub-group on the other side (east) of the new pier. This was a mixed group, socially active.

Another day in port to review video and wait. With each passing year, the dolphins around Mikura have received more publicity. As such, the numbers of people (tourists) visiting Mikura to swim with the dolphins has increased. Last year, the weekends were typically full with ~120-130 guests and so the boats rarely had extra space for a researcher. No problem as the weekdays provided ample opportunity to gather data.

Not so as much this year. The weekends are still full, but now too the weekdays are becoming increasingly more crowded.

Still, dolphins were observed for ~30 minutes I spent most of the day inside despite lovely weather. I was reviewing one of the videotapes and confirming dolphin identifications. I lost track of time till late in the afternoon. So, to stretch my legs and get a bit of air, I took a walk after dinner. The sun was orange and set into the clouds above the horizon. Not spectacular but pretty.

I had walked to the park above the pier where a half dozen or so fishermen were enjoying the warm evening.

A morning boat trip around Mikura presented us with more than 70 dolphins! A few senchoo took advantage of the weather (no swell, light wind, good visbility) to fish or collect seaweed … and to lunch on the water under a clear blue sky. We searched for, found, and observed (i.e., swam with) dolphins. We had four sightings today: at Shirataki, Eigasawa, Kowajiri and Ebiiso. The first two groups had ~20 and ~30 individual dolphins each. The second two each about half that number.

A Flat, Calm Ocean with only a slight breeze over the sea surface. John spent the last 3 weeks with me filming the workshops and helping gather data. He left Mikura today to return to the USA and other projects. Of course, he also will be greeted well by Umi, our beagle.

This is the rainy season, but you could not tell it by today's weather, or that predicted for the rest of the week for that matter. The extended forecast is for sun …

The Camp Zama group leaves on the afternoon boat. The pier was crowded with new friends before the Camp Zama group boarded the ferry to return to Tokyo and Zama. As it was Sunday, the Mikura kids were not in school and came to hang out before the ferry took their new friends home.

It seems that many of the students from both groups took the message of communication to heart as they found ways to converse without many words. Laughter is universal and so are hugs and smiles.

We can communicate even when language may not help. Saturday's schedule gave a workshop for both groups of children in the morning follwed by a hike to a lookout point for Camp Zama and then a BBQ in the evening for the youth only. The morning workshop (~2.5 hrs long) focused on communication among individuals, any two individuals. Since we had Japanese and American kids together, we focused on how language can sometimes be more of a problem than simple communication.

19 junior high school students and 5 adults come to Mikura to share cultures We greeted the Camp Zama group at the pier and were glad that the typhoon seemed to have abated. Still, because Saturday was set to be windy and choppy, we rearranged the dolphin watching and swim trip to ~3 hours after the group arrived. We had FLAT CALM seas all around Mikura and great visbility!! There were five groups of dolphins that we saw. The students were spread into 3 boats. For some, it was their first time snorkeling, let alone with dolphins.

We remained in port today but were busy with workshop plans. Today we remained 'in port' and so I wanted to tell you about the workshop we have planned for the weekend. (Of course, we are also watching the weather reports closely as the 4th typhoon of the season is over Okinawa. It should only send wave action our way …