On Thursday evening Kelly joined me in Nassau and we were all up bright and early on Friday for the first ferry to Blue Lagoon Island. Once Kel was reintroduced to folks and shown the numerous improvements to the facility, it was time to get to work. The first session was with Jake, Shawn and Goombay. The session was slightly delayed as staff donned SCUBA gear to collect the wayward sea turtle, “Lucky” who has taken up residency at DE, but somehow found her way into the dolphin’s enclosure. (The tide was really high in the night!) The 30 minute data collection session was successful, with lots of ventral-up swimming and whistling from all three males.
Our second session, 20 minutes long, included the moms and calves: Chippy and calf and Nina and calf. We were able to confirm that Chippy’s calf is indeed female! The moms seemed to be getting a bit more comfortable with the MVA (and researcher) in the water as they passed by the camera several more times today than Tuesday. Our third and final session of the day was the largest group, including Auntie V, Stormy, Soca, Dot and Miss Merlin. Visibility was decreasing, but we still recorded a quality 30 minutes of data.
The afternoon was spent assisting staff with other projects and getting in some good DCP brainstorming. More to field reports to come this weekend!
Until then,
Kathleen & Kel
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