Every new group of passengers is briefed on the dolphins and informed about how to swim with them before the start of each trip. The policies of no touch and no chasing are stressed, and passengers are always receptive to this. This group was no exception. The AM group consisted of a whole bunch of kids and their parents, along with two friends from back home, all equally eager to swim with dolphins.
After two hours of searching we caught some spotteds on our bow, 4 class 2 animals, one with a large scar down his side.
After staring at screens until we thought our eyes were going to fall out of our heads, we seem to have made a bit of a dent in processing data and ID animals. Needing a break from computers and cameras, we headed down to the Villas to talk with the folks on the Dolphinswim program (passengers on the boat for this week). The group was very interested in our work and had some interesting questions and concerns for the dolphins, especially those in other waters that might be in danger of being hunted.
On this tiny little island, there are surprisingly many dolphin boats. As we got out to the dolphin grounds, we saw that all four were out in full force, many already with dolphins. It wasn't until 3 hours into our trip that we were able to find some of our own.
This was a group of 6 dolphins initially, only 3 of which stuck around including one rambunctious little calf. Our suspicions are that the adult was one called Ebony, but our ID photos are a bit limited for this animal so we aren't sure.