But another great trip…Darcie is here! An early morning start and delays in Florida because of Air Force One couldn’t stop her. And she arrived a few hours early- instead of getting in at 1600, Darcie arrived with plenty of time to unpack and head straight to the boat—no nap for her!
The trip was another good one, even if all of our footage isn’t very useful for research projects. There was a large group (20+) of spotteds, of all age classes, to start the sighting.
Tag: older content
A beautiful day and TONS of dolphins
The water was calm, the air was warm, and all the dolphins in the world swam by me. The weather was great today – no wind, no waves, mostly sunny, and pretty darn warm. I managed to hop on an early morning boat trip. We saw a few dolphin groups swimming lazily around the island. We must have stumbled across them during their ‘quiet time’. Although for the most part they were not interested in interacting, they were also not too bothered by us, so we got some good video shots as they passed us by.
Now today started the season off right
Dolphins, dolphins, dolphins, no sea lice!Okay, so I am going to warn you all now that I am writing this while still reveling in the high that resulted from today’s boat trip. The weather was overcast, and there were plenty of dolphin fake-outs, but, shortly after 1800, we saw them! A large group (at least 15 animals) of Atlantic spotted dolphins. We were able to observe nearly everything that would be taught in “Dolphins 101.” When we came upon the dolphins, they had a school of fish nicely contained in a bait ball.
Lots of boats, but hardly any dolphins
I was lucky enough to get another boat trip this morning – but the dolphins were grumpy The tourist season here on Mikura really starts to kick off in June, with serious crowds coming to the island in July and August. People come here for dolphin watching, and to wander through the beautiful forests on the island. Usually this means that space on the dolphin watching boats is at a premium, so I won’t get the chance to go out to conduct research. I was lucky today that there was space available.
Data, photography, gardens and a mysterious songbird
No boat trips today – finally a chance to process data I can’t say I was too disappointed that there were no boat trips today. The weather in the morning was dismal and drizzly, and the afternoon was boring and hazy. This gave me a much needed excuse to start processing video and audio data. Not glamorous, but a necessity. I also took the opportunity to visit the little garden I inherited from the Obaa-chan.
Another great day (I am starting to think everyday is a great day on Mikura)
Let me tell you the story of a brave little dolphin who survived a nasty shark attack The first image is provided by Nana Takanawa – for more of her amazing pictures of dolphins and Mikura, visit her site.
These two pictures are of little Hamlet and his mother Hama-chan (#086). As you can see from the first picture, poor little Hamlet was attacked by a shark when he was very young (sometime last year I believe). There is a sizable chunk missing from his back just behind his dorsal fin.
A visit to the dolphin nursery
Two boat trips today – lots of great video! Well I am exhausted! This was one long day – we managed to squeeze in 2 boat trips, with just enough time in between to get my equipment ready for the second trip. It was COLD in the water today – probably a result of all the rain we have had. For our fist trip, we were not long out of port before we stumbled across a large group of females with their calves.
The Rainy Season You Say?
Rain, rain, go away… Just thought I’d give everyone a weather update. The folks on the Florida weather stations say that May 15th was the start of the rainy season down here. I believe they are correct, as there have been scattered, torrential rains each day so far. The island could use the rain and it certainly cools things down…so, as long as I don’t find myself stuck in the rain somewhere, no complaints from me.
Yesterday was also the official start to the Atlantic hurricane season.
Rain, rain, rain
The weather kept everyone inside today There were no dolphin watching trips today, so I had a chance to stay inside and catch up on the little things; data crunching, equipment checks, etc. But I also managed to visit the local school to lend a hand with English lessons. The school’s English teacher, Tanaka-sensei, asked me to sit in on a few of his classes.
The real research begins
Welcome to Mikura, I hope you brought your rain gear! I managed to land an early boat trip this morning. Unlike the last few days, today’s weather was rather dreadful. At times there was a torrential downpour with brief interludes of debilitating hail coming at us horizontally. If you know that image from the movie A Perfect Storm – the one where the little fishing boat is perched on a 200 foot wave – then you have an idea of how it felt today. There were some large-ish swells out there, and our little boat took a pounding.