A trip of firsts …
The wind was still about 15-20 knots and gusting around parts of Mikura. We had 1.o meter swells around Motone and both east and west of Motone. We saw dolphins only around Otaura, but they were just completely not interested. We would see them when they took a breath and then wait another 2 minutes before they surface again … about 100-200 meters away. We were not even able to follow consistently because the wind gave us a surface chop with lots of little white caps. … Still, we were out looking and observing. After about 30 minutes we moved on and saw the dolphins again (likely the same group since we observed the same behaviors and elluzive behavior but we did not 100% confirm that with IDs). At one point they came close enough for us to enter the water … but they zoomed by below us … only two identifications by eye … two males (#045 and #053 … distinctive scars). At 4:02 PM, just when we began seeing the dolphins leaping in unison – porpoising leaps with direction — there was aearthquake on Kozushima of magnitude 6.4 that caused lots of damage and one dead. On the boat we assumed there had been an earthquake because we saw rocks falling off Mikura. We just didn't know how strong the quake was, and it is interesting to think about how the movement of the earth might affect the creatures living in the sea. Well, time to compete data sheets. We have another trip planned for tomorrow … so I'll have more dolphin tales to share tomorrow night. Cheers Kathleen