Category: Bahamas 2001

More time to Chat and brainstorm ideas Last night, I chatted with Xenia about her data collection and we also discussed the protocol. One of the things we will look for, when Xenia visit DCP's office, is any matches between the photos for identification used around Bimini and those we have gathered north of Grand Bahama Island (GBI). If there are matches, this information will give us an idea about the range and distribution of spotted dolphins in the Bahamas.

Meeting with Xenia in Bimini Today began early with our flight to Florida. John stayed in Miami with Lynne, one of our captains aboard the Hanky Panky. I took a Chalk's flight to Bimini from Miami: Chalk's uses seaplanes. This was my first flight on a seaplane. It was much smoother a take-off than a regular flight … but of course, there were no swells or chop on the sea. It was an odd feeling to see the waves splash up and over the plane windows as we took off, and later as we landed.

third trip north of GBI But first, Kathleen will visit with Xenia and help for a day or two with her data collection. Then, on 11 August, trip number 3 for Kathleen's dolphin communication research begins. Since we will not have email or internet access while at sea, all our reports will be posted on 18 August. But there will be much to read so stay tuned to this site. Cheers for now.

Report # 13 The weather was not pleasant at the beginning of the week since we had much rain and wind speeds up to 25 knots from the southwest (waves 5-7 feet). Due to this, the trip on Monday was cancelled. A total of six afternoon survey trips were conducted this week.

Report # 12 The weather improved much for us this past week. On Monday we still had wind out of the Southwest at 7-10 knots and waves 3-4 feet, but a shift in wind direction from Southwest to Southeast allowed for winds to drop to less than 3 knots and wave height to be no more than 1 foot for the rest of the week. Scattered showers and thunderstorms were still present in the afternoons. A total of 6 survey trips were conducted this week and only one resulted in no sighting.

Lots of Data, even with iffy weather conditions. We ran the weather spectrum (so to speak) for this trip to observe and record the behavior and signal exchange of Atlantic spotted dolphins. We had flat calm, glassy seas with little current to swells of 3-5 feet with a chop and 30 mph winds. But, we still gathered a good amount of data! We had 36 sightings total – 34 of which were dolphins and 2 were turtle and shark sightings. 24 sightings were of spotted dolphins and 10 were bottlenose dolphins.

Report # 11 Seven trips had been scheduled for this week but two had to be cancelled due to bad weather conditions. A trough has brought us much rain and wind this past week; this is still the case as I am writing this report. Wind direction was out of the southwest and wind speeds remained between 7-15 knots causing wave height to range between 2-5 feet for this week. Of the five survey trips, two resulted in no sightings. Tuesday's afternoon trip was initiated at noon since severe thunderstorms were expected in the afternoon.

Choppy seas in deeper water. On our radar screen, we can see the storm clouds and measure the length and width (in miles) of each storm – large and small. The squalls around us were small and moving away. The faint lines near the deeper water were not so cooperative. They indicated that our return trip to port would be a bit bumpy. So, we held watches till late morning and then headed in to port. But, before that, we took the dinghy over to Sandy Caye.

Observing a dolphin, and a few turtles, nurse sharks. We woke to similar conditions – a two foot swell and windy weather. A low pressure system was moving our way and the sea and skies were predicted to get a bit worse. So, we hauled anchor early in the day and motored towards the sugar wreck. On our way we saw a single adult spotted dolphin. It had the tip of the right side of its fluke missing. Looked like a new scar. Maybe we will see this individual again to confirm identification.

28 Years ago today they split from the CommonWealth. The sea and wind conditions did not worsen from yesterday, but they did not improve either. The sun did grace us with its presence, though. A warm sunny day. One that began with a few bottlenose dolphin sightings. A nice way to begin any day. Even when these dolphins seemed to be either traveling or feeding and not interested in bowriding or any interaction. We did see a group of 6 spotted dolphins in the early afternoon who were mildly interested in swimmers.