A busy weekend here on Mikura – but lots of dolphins IMAGE: A picture of the Miyama Kuwagata beetle – found only on Mikura!
We went out this morning with Ichiro-sensei – a retired school worker who spends his days fishing. He was nice enough to offer me and another researcher space on his boat. Today he was out on the water doing a survey of all the dolphin watching boats – counting passengers, etc.
I saw it all today – the dolphins were nuts! IMAGE: A good head scratching will make anyone's day…
For the first time in as long as I can remember, I had the morning free! No dolphin trip! I managed to get some shopping done – coffee, milk… the essentials. It was a beautiful day. A little overcast, but quite warm.
Two boat trips, but constant rain means pea-soup ocean – not much to see out there IMAGE: Can you find the dolphins in this picture?
Two boat trips again today (must be some kind of record), but the weather has been unlucky. Constant rain for almost 48 hours means that lots of silt and debris is being churned up along the shore line thanks to the water running off the mountain.
Choppy and nasty – our boat trip is cut shortIMAGE: My housemate Kogi demonstrating a variation on the traditional Japanese ‘sashimi’ style of eating squid
After two days of hugely successful boat trips, I should have known that my luck was about to run out. I woke up to serious rain this morning – a constant downpour. I assumed that there was no way anyone would be going out in this weather. But we still managed to find a trip! The real diehards were out today.
Rubbing, rubbing and more rubbing. We had two trips again today! That is 4 trips in 2 days – madness. #057 9 (Shimibaa) and her juvenile came around for an inspection on the first trip. The juvenile was very excited to see us, and hung around after mom left the scene. But mom came back in a hurry and disciplined the juvenile for spending too much time with us, and not sticking by her side where she belongs.
Dolphins-a-poppin IMAGE: A picture of my new upside-down dolphin friend…
Two boat trips today! My gosh – what a way to make up for a slow couple of days. Our first trip was a lot like boot camp. We were on a boat with no seats, so getting in and out felt a lot like army training. And for some reason, as soon as we spotted dolphins, there was a mad rush to get in the water.
Another day inside, but some serious data analysis today! IMAGE An enchanting photograph depicting the glory of data processing
Yet another day without a boat trip – it is becoming a bad habit at this point. So I took it upon myself to do some serious data processing. There is a side to dolphin research that is far from glamorous. In fact, it is so distinctly unglamorous as to make you think that studying dolphins is tedious.
Another day without getting on the water.. IMAGE: A picture of my fins looking sad and unused on the front steps. Strange weather conditions mean that I spent another day inside instead of out looking for dolphins. Blah blah typhoon blah blah – still no sign of any typhoon, but the seas are rough and the ferry from Tokyo keeps getting cancelled. So to cheer myself up, I decided to make a big batch of my grandmother’s special spaghetti sauce. It tastes best if it simmers for 3 or hours, so it was an all day undertaking.
Today I went Back To School – but without Rodney Dangerfield In case I might have just revealed how old I am getting through my Back To School reference, you can check out this website http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0090685/ to learn more about this classic, albeit slightly sophomoric movie. To its credit it does make reference to Kurt Vonnegut in one scene…
There is no typhoon (still), but there was an awful lot of rain this morning. The sea is pretty choppy, and there are no tourists to put on the dolphin watching boats, so there were no dolphin trips.
Do typhoons really exist? My faith is tested IMAGE: A boat dry docked and ready for some typhoon action!
I am beginning to suspect that typhoons don’t really exist. There are some people who believe that Santa Claus, the Easter Bunny, the Flat Tax, and the Moon Landings do not exist and/or never really happened either, so I am adding typhoons to the list of mysterious and enigmatic items. I have been bracing myself for 4 days for a treacherous typhoon to appear on the horizon and wreak havoc, but nothing of the sort has come to pass.
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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