Crazy high waves bring out the dolphins
I had two boat trips today and I am exhausted. We saw plenty of dolphins on both trips, but the weather turned kind of nasty in the afternoon, so the second trip had some rough conditions. Not far from the pier we spotted several groups of dolphins frolicking (yes, really frolicking) in the high waves crashing against the shore. They were leaping and surfing the big waves in. The surf tossed our little boat around, and it made getting on and off the boat quite challenging – 
especially with the MVA. But I had no regrets at all because today I saw THE WIDDLEST DOLPHIN EVER! It was a newborn pocket-sized dolphin. I could have wrapped him up and taken him home with me in my hand luggage THAT is how small he was. His mom is #052 – an adult female; this not her first calf, so she should most likely turn out to be a good mom. As you can see by the pictures, he is really tiny. If you look closely, you can see that his dorsal fin is flopped over and he has the general appearance of being wobbly and awkward. You can see in the second picture that the fetal fold are very obvious and very dark. Baby dolphins are folded up inside the mom, so droopy fins and fetal folds can still be seen just after birth. All of these observations put together tell me that this little dolphin may well have been born today. Maybe even just a few hours before I first spotted him! I wouldn’t put him any older than a day or two, and definitely not older that 5 days. I had just seen #052 on the 18th, and she did not yet have a neonate with her. Anyhow, it is a rough world out there for a baby dolphin, so let’s all keep our fingers crossed that he makes it through the years. -Justin