Time for DCP to return to Roatan, Anthony’s Key Resort (AKR), the Roatan Institute for Marine Sciences (RIMS) for our 21st year of research … observing and recording the behavior and vocalizations of the dolphins who call RIMS home! And to Celebrate the New Year with Sandy and the other dolphins (and people) at RIMS. Manon and I travel a day before our groups arrive to get the gear set up and observe the dolphins to confirm updates to their ID marks. And, yes, to see how much the calves have grown!! And, of course, to catch up with Teri, Eldon, Denry, Kenly, and the rest of the training team, as well as all the staff who are like family at AKR and RIMS.
Manon and I will travel tomorrow (Friday) to Roatan. Our first week is a small ecotour with Jillian, Tracy, Rebecca, and Eric joining us. They arrive on Saturday. After their week, we’ll have a group of students with Shane from Colorado State University (CSU), and then the third week will see Justin and his students from the University of Rhode Island (URI). It’ll be a busy three weeks and we’ll be hoping for good underwater visibility, clear skies, and lots of neat behavior interactions among the dolphins!
Baloo and Hazel will hang back in Florida with John and make sure he stays out of trouble! Baloo is not thrilled that I’m traveling for 3 weeks (though maybe I am a bit anthropomorphic in my assessment of her behavior) and Hazel seems not aware of what’s coming … she’ll get John all to herself … except when Hazel has to share him with Baloo! You might see updates on the micro and macro seabeagles mixed into the DCP field blog updates!
Thanks for joining us and stay tuned for more delights from the field as we begin our 2024 research and education field season!
Cheers
Kathleen & Manon