Our ride to Bailey’s Key included an unexpected rain shower, which made two of us decide to forego morning data collection. Still, Manon, Kathleen, Rebecca, and Eric weathered the storm and were rewarded by relatively good underwater visibility (minus the freshwater surface layer) and quite social dolphins. The day turned out quite lovely – as you can see in the featured view of the snorkel spot at Bailey’s (Dolphins behind the photographer). Tilly and Buzz made a few leaps above the surface while Stan and Tank and Rocky enjoyed socializing with each other and occasionally harassing Kathleen’s fins. Kami had zero personal space today (again).
After Breakfast, Kathleen transferred footage (we have lots) while Manon, Rebecca, and Eric returned to Bailey’s Key for some snorkeling and dolphin observations. You can see that Poli and Kami hung out with Elli and Gizmo. The water was clear, they were pair swimming.
Manon found a flounder that was very sedate and seemingly friendly … it waited for both Rebecca and Eric to come say hi! The snorkel was good, even though there was still some trash to pick. The afternoon brought all of our group to the shore dive spot on the northern side of Anthony’s Key where Eric, Manon, and Tracy went snorkeling while Jill, Rebecca, and Kathleen held a safety watch and chatted. It was a wet and wild day!
The evening wrapped up nicely since most of the other guests were on the second night dive and we all are excited for our dolphin swim tomorrow!
Until then,
DCP’s first 2024 ecotour group