Tag: older content

Don joined us for data collection at 6:30 AM … our ride to Bailey’s Key was smooth, even though there seemed to be a building sea just outside the cut. There was little current and good visibility for the morning data collection. The dolphins were playful but with very low surface activity. Mr. French investigated Kathleen’s fins for quite some time, and Sandy and Tilly tried to entice Manon to sea grass games.

We began the day with a very dynamic data collection session. French and Champ were in the main lagoon with the mother/calf pairs and Ronnie, Poli, Lenca, and Stan were in the shallow and deep areas. The CSU students did their last morning data collection session under a cloudless sky with calm seas … The dolphins were mostly quiet at the surface, at least on space use scans. Still, we saw some chasing and some leaps by the younger calves. Kathleen saw Woody nursing and Mr. French spent time buzzing her fins.

Early AM data collection on the dolphins was quiet today – there was little activity at the surface and some action underwater. Still, it was a great day to watch the dolphins and it was not raining.

We had a brief breakfast and then went on a boat snorkel – we boated to the West End area and snorkeled on a lovely reef with lots of fish.

This morning’s data collection was AWEOME. There was much social activity at the surface, but it was slow, except when the dolphins were jumping and speed swimming. Gracie and Calli’s calves were playing with each other. Ronnie and Poli were together most of the session. We had many observations to fill our data sheets this morning. After breakfast, we spent the morning watching the video data from two mornings ago and this morning’s session. We practiced our ID skills to recognize the dolphins in the videos … we are remembering more than we realized.

Our day began typically with dolphin observation data collection. While waiting for the return water taxi to breakfast, we watched in awe as a rain squall swept across the boat channel from Anthony’s Key to Bailey’s – we huddled under the palapa but still got wet (see cover photo). Dr. D., Dr. K., and Manon stood in the pouring rain. The warm breakfast was delicious! After which we spent the morning in the classroom, while it continued to pour.

We spent LOTS of time in the water today. We had our dolphin encounter and swim – see our thoughts below! It was a blast for all of us! The afternoon was a presentation by Dr. K about our projects and water and a brief intro to physiology that we will continue tomorrow.

Our morning was bright and early – and thankfully not raining! We did a full space use data collection along with the surface observations while Kathleen collected data with the MVA4. There was much activity – you can see Tilly and Sandy together in the cover photo. After data observations, then we had breakfast and then prepared for our day at Maya Key. We lucked out with good weather and really good visibility for our snorkel off the reef near Maya Key.

Our first full day at Anthony’s Key Resort – and it began with dolphin observations. (In the cover photo, we are learning about the dock’s flexibility!) Both French and Sandy were in leaping moods this morning! French even greeted the students with a spinning spy hop! Of course, we also saw the moms and calves; here, Bailey is with Calli and her calf.

A hearty breakfast got us ready for a classroom session in which we learned about DCP’s history and research, with RIMS and elsewhere.

Today was a day of transition – CSU Group 1 departed for home while CSU Group 2 jetted south to Roatan. We also had two students from the University of Bologna Master Course in Large Marine Vertebrates (MCLMV) join us.

We had our last data collection session with group 1 and about 2/3 of the way through the session it poured rain! (See the cover photo for the rainy sky.) Kathleen did not notice as she was underwater but the rest of us ran for cover on to the platform or the palapa.

The bad news is that we are leaving. The good news is that we get to go home! It was another full, exciting day here at AKR. It began with our second-to-last data collection session on the dolphins at Bailey’s Key. The underwater vis was not great and the dolphins were quiet, but it was still a good morning! After breakfast, we received a talk from Samir Galindo, General Manager and one of the proprietors of AKR. We learned a bit about the history of AKR, as well as their conservation and education programs.