Swimming with Bottlenose Dolphins … out here! Our last day at sea began with two bottlenose dolphins swimming by the boat at 6:47 am. Only Bill, Peppie and I were awake. A welcome good morning to all of us. We did see a few spotted dolphins further up north as we traveled, but they were not interested in us. Later in the day, we had our first 10 minute encounter with 22 bottlenose dolphins! They rode our bow and then stayed just on our visual periphery under water. But, they seemed a bit curious about us.
Tag: older content
3rd: Happy Birthday Kel!
Even though we aren’t in the United States, we allowed ourselves some time yesterday & today to enjoy the holiday spirit that can be found even in Bimini. Yesterday was Kel’s birthday, so a group of friends took us to the eastern side of Bimini where we enjoyed a lazy day in the sun. We were able to catch fresh conch for made-on-the-beach conch salad. Another first for Tabby. Her verdict? “Mighty Tasty!”
Phone Link
With still no boats trips on tap, today began with our phone link to the aquarium. It was Tabby’s first time on this side of the phone link! The afternoon was spent in front of the TV watching spot pattern after spot pattern. The plus to all of this land time is that we’re really making progress on our video logs! Until next time, Kel &
Dolphins, and more dolphins.
Begin with bottlenose, then with spotteds. It was an amazing day! I felt as though the dolphins were welcoming me home. I know that sounds corny and quite non-scientific, but that is what I felt. We saw our first dolphins of the day at about 10:30 AM … bottlenose riding the bow. Then a group of 9 to 12 spotted dolphins at 10:48. They were playful and bowriding as we donned our snorkel gear. The swells were a bit high and we had to take care getting into the water and then returning to the boat.
No boat
Today we finished a rouge tape from 10 May 2007. It was the fastest video log ever – about 46 minutes of video logged in about 4 hours! (Yes, that is FAST). It was a great encounter with Romeo (#10), Tina (#14), Nemo (#76), Leslie (#80) and a few others including the adult who is now missing about half of her dorsal fin (see field report 13 May 2007). Our diligent photo-ID matching skills paid off because we discovered that this animal is in fact Lone Star (#56)! She has healed very well &
WELCOME TABBY!
Kel spent the morning tidying the apartment for Tabby’s arrival. Then she spent the afternoon tracking Tabby’s flight online as it continued to be delayed. In the end, it was only about an hour late & Kel met her at the South Bimini airport. We took the “bus” to the water taxi to the golf cart to the house – and probably didn’t travel more than 3 miles! Tabby’s reaction?
A DRT Summary
Our trip was spectacular with much learned, too.
It took me three days to recover from the jet lag – always hits me harder traveling to the east. The DRTs had a great trip and were filled with energy on Tuesday evening as we pulled into the Pine Point School parking lot to a pack of parents! Hugs and smiles were all around as we unloaded and made sure that each DRT had their proper baggage (nothing lost!).
Our program was a huge success and we experienced much and learned lots too.
A slow week
This week was slow, but productive. Monday & Wednesday brought our most successful web links with this aquarium so far this season. The connection held out & the theater was full with visitors & questions. Since I was low on boat time, I took the time to continue going through video clips related to my thesis work (the interactions between the spotteds & the bottlenose). Now I am nearly through it all! But, of course, I am hoping for more clips as the summer progresses. Tomorrow, the second DCP intern, Tabby, arrives.
End of season report
It has been a great season!
Hey everyone – Justin here again. This is my last report for this season. The visit from the DRTs was a lot of fun- a great way to end the season. My boat ride with the Pine Point students was my last ride of the season. The weather has been excellent these past few weeks- even though it is the rainy season, we have seen very little rain. The water has been unusually calm as well.
Our Last Day in Tokyo
The Imperial Palace and the Diet Building
We were able to go inside the walls to the Imperial Palace! We had a tour of the grounds near the East Garden and saw the building where the Emperor greets the people of Japan on January 2 and his birthday (December 23) each year. We learned a bit of the history to this section of the Imperial Grounds – very cool!
After our tour at the Palace, we visited the Diet Building, which looks a bit like our capital building.