Jellyfish attack
I had an early morning trip this today – so much for sleeping in! The water was oh so very cold today – I am way too skinny despite my all-fat diet of the last few weeks. A wet suit is simply not enough – I need a submarine! Despite the cold, today was a good research day – I saw lots and lots of dolphins! Huge numbers of them. Unfortunately, they were busy traveling somewhere, and did not stick around to check us out.
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Guess what?
The new group of Bimini Undersea passengers arrived yesterday – to 20 knot winds. Super. Yesterday’s trip was cancelled and since today felt ever so slightly less windy, the trip went. It began with a snorkel stop, but after that we could not safely get beyond the island. So, the trip consisted of pacing along the shoreline. It paid off in the end, as bottlenose were observed at the end of the day. I took as many photographs as I could, but the sea spray was more than I was comfortable exposing the camera too.
Ferry, why do you hate me so?
OK, somebody out there was NOT keeping their fingers crossed for me. The ferry from Tokyo to Mikura was canceled TWICE, leaving me to sit on the boat all the way to Hachijo-jima and then back to Tokyo, only to disembark where I started and get back on again for a 2nd attempt. The whole journey took 30 hours (it should only have taken 6). The weather was absolutely terrible on the 20th, and there was no chance of the ferry landing at the unprotected Mikura pier.
A field report from my day off
Just a quick note: Today I was able to go fishing in the deeper water (100-500 feet) north of Bimini. I didn’t do much of the fishing (although the rest of the group didn’t catch anything anyway!), but there was an accidental catch. Luckily, they were able to release this roughly 3.5 foot shark without any apparent damage. It was very cool to see so close! A friend thought that it was a dusky shark. Once I got home I had to do more research….It turns out that dusky sharks &
Scratch that
Well, things are always changing around here. Today we had an impromptu trip and we won’t have a trip tomorrow. It was a great group of passengers who were very patient with the random day at sea! Why was it random you ask….? Well, first of all, it was the most beautiful day we’ve had all month. So, the crew & I were quite happy to be on the boat, even though we were pretty tired from yesterday’s double trip.
On my way to Japan
I spent all of yesterday packing the equipment for this year’s research season on Mikura island. I’ll be taking two large and very heavy cases with me. Security personnel are always curious as to what is in the big black case. Kathleen’s big green camera is certainly a curious object, and I always end up being scrutinized by airport staff.
It is a 14 hour flight to Tokyo, followed by an 6 hour overnight ferry-ride to Mikura. If all goes well, I should be on the island as of May 20.
Mikura Research 2007
In just a few days, the Dolphin Communication Project will begin our research on Mikura Island in Japan for our summer 2007 field season. The tiny, dormant volcanic island of Mikura lies 200 km south of Tokyo in the Pacific Ocean. The island is home to 300 human beings and about 180 Indo-Pacific bottlenose dolphins. These dolphins live in the shallow waters around the island.
A long day
Today was long, but productive. I did not get much underwater video data, but I did see Lil’ Jess (#35), Swoosh (#36), Juliette (#12) and possibly Tim (#69). They didn’t stick around too long, but I was still excited from the bottlenose we saw at the start of the trip to be disappointed…I haven’t been able to go through all of the photos yet, but I did see at least 5 bottlenose that were added to DCP’s photo-ID catalog last summer! FIVE!
Rough days continue
Yesterday the winds were northeast about 20 knots, so there was no dolphin trip. I did the weekly presentation with the passengers and they had a few other activities to keep themselves busy. I got caught up on some paperwork, although I know full well that “caught up” doesn’t last very long! Today we held our second test call to the aquarium. The real thing begins on Monday, 21 May, so for any of you folks who are in the Mystic, CT area, I’d love to “see” you there on Mondays &
A broken hose, late re-start and rough seas
Today was a bit unusual! We headed out shortly after 1500 and stopped at the “Bimini Road” (aka Atlantis) snorkel site. Once we stopped, it clear there was an engine issue. The fresh water hose was busted. It was so busted that rescue tape could not even handle it. So it was back to the dock around 1700. I thought that would be it for the day, but the passengers still wanted to head out. So, we tried again shortly before 1800. By this time the wind had picked up so it made for a messy ride.