A great start to the day – the morning was dolphin-full! AM data collection followed by our dolphin encounter and swim. We met Buzz and learned more about him and his behaviors from Dante. Our swim had not great underwater visibility, but we still saw several dolphins, played seaweed/seagrass games, and got to see some of the younger dolphins up close. The featured photo is us just after our swim – you can see our dolphin smiles!! You can see Kathleen being followed by Buzz below.
Lunch was well earned and yummy and followed by a talk from Jennifer on coral reef restoration. We had about an hour and a half to relax and prepare for the night snorkel. The boat took us just to the west side of Bailey’s Key and we got in at dusk. We snorkeled for about 40 minutes and saw both juvenile and adult squid, octopus, lobster, a giant hermit crab, lots of night-active fish, brittle stars, and a few shrimps.
Dinner and our blog wrapped up the evening.
Christian – I had a lot of fun with the night snorkel tonight and got a very VERY good video of a squid!
Gabe – Today, I got chased around by a dolphin while playing with seagrass and got to see a giant hermit crab on the night snorkel.
Caroline – Georgie and I were playing with sea grass today and then Poli came through, stole the seagrass and, sadly, broke my nail.
Anna – I got to check off seeing an octopus in person off my bucket list. Seeing it change color was the coolest thing I’ve ever seen.
Laura – Seeing the pufferfish today was my second favorite thing, to Buzz, the dolphin, giving me a kiss.
Anson – Kami the dolphin and I swam around quite a bit today and then I saw a very good sunset.
Abby – I saw a pufferfish for the first time on the night snorkel, and I held Buzz, the dolphin, for the first time.
Tasha – Swimming with and receiving a gift from Georgie, the dolphin, was a surreal experience as was my first night snorkel.
Nathalie – Today has been the most exciting day so far. I saw so many new things for the first time and I hope it’s not the last.
Ellie – I touched a dolphin for the first time today and got gluten free banana bread.
Lucy – On the night snorkel, I had a wicked view of larger octopus and squid, which is really exciting because cephalopods are my favorite invertebrate.
Don – Yellow headed jawfish.
Paige – I enjoyed celebrating all the new experiences that the students encountered during their snorkels.
Manon – Got hit by a squid during the night snorkel.
Shane – Happy Birthday, Ron! And to quote my wife, swimming with the dolphins never gets old.
Cheers
Kathleen, Manon, Don & the CSU Bubble Guppies!