Today began REALLY early for all of us! Packing of gear and assorted equipment was finished a mere 8 hours prior to departure to the airport. Good thing lists are handy. DCP’s time on Roatan at AKR studying the dolphins at RIMS is just about 2.5 weeks this month. The first ten days will include four college students representing three schools; they are participating in DCP’s first Animal Behavior College Course. These students will assist with data collection for DCP, spend time learning about animal behavior, communication and cognition, and work on their own limited-scope project. The second portion of the field season will include eco-tourists participating in DCP’s RIMS eco-tour 2010.
I met with Amanda, Amber and Kristen in Houston for the second leg of our air travel to Roatan and Sarah joined us later in the afternoon. We took time this afternoon to settle in – unpack gear, prepare the array and swim paraphernalia, and of course, visit the dolphins!
We discussed data collection and behavior over dinner … and then all began to crash – very long days! Tomorrow begins early with data collection at 6:15 AM. We’ll write more tomorrow.
Cheers,
Kathleen, Amber, Amanda, Kristen & Sarah