More than 35 minutes of video, and 35 min of click detector data!
We had awesome weather — swells less than 0.5 m, light breeze (WSW), sunny skies and warm (relatively) water (20 degrees C). We saw several dolphins from last year. It is always nice to see that the calves from last year are still around and full of 'vim and vigor'. They swim circles around us and I often have to stop and be sure I still know where the sea surface is for when I need air. We recorded a few mother/calf pairs — two from this year and a few one year olds. ID#223, Beauty-chan, swam circles around me and clicked directly at the camera and click detector. She was a camera ham today. We also observed a sub-adult group — males and females — engaged in pre-courtship behavior. There were chases by the males to the females, but shorter ones. The males buzzed the females and jaw clapped and popped at the females. Once, a female was behind me and the dolphin jaw clapped at her … I wonder if she was using me as a shield? In the afternoon, we saw a few of the same groups but they were into their own thing — not showing any inquisitive activity towards humans. It was interesting to see the diurnal pattern, if only for this day. We look forward to another day out tomorrow … even though we are really tired from two trips. The data makes the tiredness more than worth it. Cheers Kathleen