Our first trip out to find and observe dolphins was a huge success!!We left port at 6:56AM and headed counter clockwise around the island (check out the map of Mikura to orient yourself to the places I mention.). Hishii-san drove for Manpu and I - this was a research trip with no guests. The owner of the boat, Gen-san, donated its use to us this morning since he did not need to use his boat till about 10 AM.
Our first group (4 dolphins) were seen not more than 200 m into our trip.
A Bright New Day Dawns I greeted the sun at about 5:50 AM ... a wonderous site after soo many days of rain. The sea is flat calm and the air feels new and clean. Still, we will likely not get out on the water today. No 'okyakusan' till tomorrow and the senchoo are buzy with other work today. Other tasks can be attended to by us as well. (Us being me and the other researcher on the island) ... like airing out our futonas, doing laundry, etc.
… while waiting for the rain and wind to calm down. My work (and that of two other students on the island studying dolphins) depends mostly on joining the watching/swimming trips. Since the weather has been so bad, there are no tourists here (they could not get here because the boat was canceled two days running.) and thus no trips. Some times, we will be able to go out without tourists, but only when the senchoo are available (need a special license to drive the boats here …). So we wait.