At 3am it sounded as though a freight train was passing by! Our planned 7am observation session was cancelled due to zero u/w visibility and a 'ripping' current. The waves were rolling and breaking on the reef and around us. The dolphins seemed okay but we focused our afternoon on video ID. We needed to add Fiona (Alita's calf from last October) and Carmella and Ritchie to our list.
The day was leisurely and we spent time marveling at the seas. We did have a sunset and, surprisingly, little rain.
Tag: older content
Day 2: Recording Dolphins
Meeting Carmella, Ritchie, Fiona + 'Mr. French' It felt almost like coming home today (except that John + Umi weren't here). Bill, Ronnie, Maury, and Mika are only 1 year older but grew much! Gracie is pregnant, Mrs. Beasly had a male calf about 1 month ago, and Fieona (born last year to Alita) is more rambunctious than Ronnie ever was! Hector + Esteban had a tiff adjacent to me but nothing too serious.
I introduced our team # 1 to surface observations and use of the 'surface' hydrophone.
Arrival on Roatan
A long day of travel-sliding in before Ivan My morning began VERY early: 0300! But, considering the approaching weather and ominous aniversary that today represented, my flights were uneventful. Miami airport did seem relatively ''people free''. It took 13 hrs on 4 planes to get from CT to Roatan but it was worth the effort. The airport was much busier than I remember. The people just as friendly and helpful as last year. It was good to return, to see familiar faces at Anthony''s Key Resort.
They tell us it is hurricane season
Frances finally left us, but now the radar screens tell us that Hurricane Ivan may be on his way. Although it is too early to tell if it will hit Bimini, it is more serious than Frances because it would come from the southwest, rather than the east as Frances did. This means that the hurricane would travel across very deep waters before hitting the island—a very dangerous scenario.
Safe and Sound
Hurricane Frances was the SLOWEST storm either us have ever been through. We began to feel its effects on Friday and it wasn’t gone until Sunday. We lost our phone first, early in the afternoon on Friday. During the night, we lost electricity and running water. Running water was restored after about 30 hours, electricity after 36 and the phone after about 6 days.
Ever been swimming in mangroves?
Well, today the forecast looks like Hurricane Frances will definitely be quite close to the island. So, it was back to South Bimini’s secluded mangroves to be sure the boats were tied down securely. The ropes extend from the boat and must be secured around the thickest trunk possible.
A Lady Named Frances…
It’s a good thing there are no dolphin trips scheduled for the weekend, because, well, they’d be cancelled anyway. The island is currently keeping all eyes on Hurricane Frances. We are not sure who invited her for Labor Day weekend, but we hope she decides not to come! However, just to be safe, we spent the day helping Bimini Undersea and ourselves get ready. This involved cleaning the boats, safely storing boat and scuba gear and bagging all merchandise in the dive shop.
Dolphins Do Exist
Today’s trip included a group of 14 plus dolphins. About eight of these really stuck around the boat, but they were consistently on the move, so we were unable to get any underwater footage—at the beginning. We did recognize #5, #15, #17 and possibly #16.
No Dolphins!
Today’s trip included a very, very flat Beaufort 2 sea state. This normally makes it very easy to sight dolphins, but, sadly, there were no dolphins today! Kathy stayed behind today to greet her parents who will be visiting for the weekend!! We are very excited to have them here on Bimini and they will be joining us on tomorrow’s dolphin trip.
Back in the ‘dolphin grounds.’
Most of today’s group will be on the boat tomorrow and Saturday as well. It was our 36th trip of this season and we saw spotted dolphin groups three times today. Our first sighting was of 2 spotteds and also resulted in a ten minute encounter. We didn’t know any of the individuals, but we may be able to make some IDs once we go over the video. Later in the day, we saw a group of 7 spotted dolphins who appeared to be mating, but we were unable to get in the water.