Today was a slow day that saw the wind increase Today was a slow day that I spent breaking down my array and soaking parts in fresh water then drying them. I sorted gear, clothing and data in preparation for packing.
I also visited a few folks on the island to say thank you for their help and for welcoming me again to their island home. I dropped off thank you letters to the school and said bye to the teachers till next year.
Our time at Dolphin Encounters was a success!!!! We were able to record ambient noise 3 times a day in each of the 5 pools, came away with 4.5 hours of underwater video and over 100 digital ID photographs—a very productive three days and a big change from our usual routine. We awoke each morning at 6 a.m. and returned to our hotel around 7 p.m., unlike our schedule in Bimini where our work day begins at 2 p.m. and ends at 9 p.m.
The sea condition is worsening and we are coming to a weekend (i.e., many tourists). I filled the last space on the trip with Michio this afternoon. There were three other watching boats out and several fishermen. The wind and sea were up but we saw dolphins between Motone and Shirataki. We had four sightings of about 8-12 dolphins per group. A sub-adult male group, a female sub-adult group, a mixed group and then that went undetermined as we did not stop to observe them under water.
As the day progressed, the sea calmed and the air temperature rose. The old pier is about 150 meters long and they are adding another 30 m to it this month. The construction has been interesting to watch over the past 7~8 weeks. There are two sections of pier at Mikura's port: the old pier was built in sections and took ~30 years from start to this point and the new pier which took about 6 years (so far).
I was almost grateful of the wind because it meant that my body would get a rest. Okay, I admit it, I took a 3 hour nap this afternoon. It was wonderful! I also have begun the task of preparing for the end of this year's field season. That is, I made a list of people I need to write thank you letters to and began drafting them. I also finished tape 9 with respect to video logging the dolphin identities that can be made.
We arrived at Dolphin Encounters (DE) in Nassau, Bahamas, with camera and hydrophone in hand, not knowing exactly what to expect. This was DCP’s first time working with this facility and we were sent in on behalf of DCP and Mystic Aquarium. It worked out well, considering Bimini’s proximity to Nassau and provided us, as research interns, with exposure to a different type of field work. Joining us this week is another intern, Kristine Sonstrom, who has been working with Dr. Peter Scheifele from the University of Connecticut.
At least 75 individual dolphins observed today! Today I recorded about 40 minutes of video and identified at least 30 individual dolphins prior to reviewing the video. We saw a group of sub-adult males socializing and milling about near Subarune. One or two of these males later joined the group we'd been watching near Kawaguchi Taki on the South side of Mikura Island.
We had our longest underwater observations today on Mikura's south 'side' in front of Kawaguchi Taki.
… but did not dissipate the heat or the following sun. I had been watching the white caps increase from my door up the hill from the ocean. The swells did not become apparent till I got down to the port. We could only go from the new pier around the east to Motone. At both the pier and Motone, there was a 1~2 m swell. The wind was 20~25 kn but gusted to ~30 kn.
Although we did not come off the boat with much MVA1 video footage, we were able to confirm that White Blotch (#29) is indeed pregnant! This is a good sign as we believe she lost her one year old calf last year. By the looks of things, she may give birth before the summer is through. In 2001, when she had her last calf, she was kind enough to come by the boat to show DCP researchers her 10 day old baby.
Ichiro-sensei had his boat out today for some teachers, and me. While we did not see the new calf born yesterday, we did see many other dolphins today: about 50-60 in total as different IDs. We had 6 sightings but swam with only 3 of the groups. Two were fleeting with only one surface observation of a couple of dorsal fins. The other was a group of resting dolphins that moved off when passengers from a second boat near us entered.
