30 minutes underwater with the dolphins before 7:30 am Our 30 min session was withou the preamplifier for the camera hydrophone set. We are using passive hydrophones for the camera and they worked fine though the levels was a bit lower (as expected) than when recordings are made with the preamplifier. The whistles and clicks were still there.
Again this morning, we documented much rubbing behavior and slow swimming. We actually saw the two older adult females (Rita and Mrs. Beasley) on several occasions.
Lots of contact, rubbing and pectoral fin - pectoral fin rubs. Yesterday Eldon and Bruce gave us the okay to observe the dolphins before the first morning training session. We waited an hours and a half after sunrise to assure good light levels (Yes, we were awake at sunrise with anticipation.) Kathleen was in the water by 7:20 am and witnessed everyone rubbing various body parts on everyone else (technical terms).
Before and after water entries we use a volt meter to check the status of hydrophone and click detector voltage levels.
2 morning swim sessions, each 30 min We woke refreshed after a day away from research. A hike to the botanical gardens, yesterday, was well worth it. The dolphins were their usual cheery selves. We saw much rubbing underwater and a few tail slaps at the surface this morning. Paya and Esteban, the two adult males, did a reef dive with some tourists so we only watched 12 dolphins this morning.
We spent the afternoon, 4 hours, reviewing video. We are now half way through the logging of tape 3. We recorded tape 10 today.