Here in Bimini, DCP researchers go on dolphin encouter boats operated by Bimini Undersea. Most of Bimini Undersea’s dolphin trips are in the form of week-long programs in which the same group of passengers comes on the boat each day, Sunday through Thursday. This gives passengers a chance to experience multiple kinds of encounters and learn a bit more about the dolphins.
Today’s trip started out slowly, but around 6 o’clock we came across a group of six bottlenose dolphins, one of which looked quite young.
Tag: older content
The calm before the store … sort of.
A surprise boat trip thanks to Typhoon #6. Yes, it is true the effects of the 6th typhoon are being felt at Mikura with the increasing height of the waves and the decreasing visbility because of the waves against the shore. But, an unseen effect is that almost all the ~120 guests that were to visit Mikura this weekend, cancelled. The island is oddly quiet for a weekend.
The sea to the NE and E of Mikura was the best for observing dolphins and the visbility was typically less than 3-4 m and was silty.
Kathy’s Birthday and Darcie’s First Encounter
After not being out on the boat for over a week, Saturday’s trip was a success. Found dolphins just before six o’clock and they stayed with us for an hour. From the surface we observed a large group of adults engaged in what appeared to be mating. Once in the water, the first two encounters were with 3 subadults who were moderately interactive with the passengers.
An Afternoon Survey Trip!!
Only two days had passed, but while in port it felt like eternity. Then, just before noon, Souji-san called. His boat, Souei-maru, was going out again at 13:30 and I was invited. Hurray! We left at 13:26 just as the tardy ferry was stopping to pick up tourists returning to Tokyo. Immediately, we saw dolphins. Too close to the pier to enter the water, but there was another sub-group on the other side (east) of the new pier. This was a mixed group, socially active.
Another sunny day with calm seas.
Another day in port to review video and wait. With each passing year, the dolphins around Mikura have received more publicity. As such, the numbers of people (tourists) visiting Mikura to swim with the dolphins has increased. Last year, the weekends were typically full with ~120-130 guests and so the boats rarely had extra space for a researcher. No problem as the weekdays provided ample opportunity to gather data.
Not so as much this year. The weekends are still full, but now too the weekdays are becoming increasingly more crowded.
In Port – data analyses
Still, dolphins were observed for ~30 minutes I spent most of the day inside despite lovely weather. I was reviewing one of the videotapes and confirming dolphin identifications. I lost track of time till late in the afternoon. So, to stretch my legs and get a bit of air, I took a walk after dinner. The sun was orange and set into the clouds above the horizon. Not spectacular but pretty.
I had walked to the park above the pier where a half dozen or so fishermen were enjoying the warm evening.
Another 30 min of video recorded!
A morning boat trip around Mikura presented us with more than 70 dolphins! A few senchoo took advantage of the weather (no swell, light wind, good visbility) to fish or collect seaweed … and to lunch on the water under a clear blue sky. We searched for, found, and observed (i.e., swam with) dolphins. We had four sightings today: at Shirataki, Eigasawa, Kowajiri and Ebiiso. The first two groups had ~20 and ~30 individual dolphins each. The second two each about half that number.
Sunny, Hot Weather
A Flat, Calm Ocean with only a slight breeze over the sea surface. John spent the last 3 weeks with me filming the workshops and helping gather data. He left Mikura today to return to the USA and other projects. Of course, he also will be greeted well by Umi, our beagle.
This is the rainy season, but you could not tell it by today's weather, or that predicted for the rest of the week for that matter. The extended forecast is for sun …
The Last Day of our Mikura 2004 Workshop
The Camp Zama group leaves on the afternoon boat. The pier was crowded with new friends before the Camp Zama group boarded the ferry to return to Tokyo and Zama. As it was Sunday, the Mikura kids were not in school and came to hang out before the ferry took their new friends home.
It seems that many of the students from both groups took the message of communication to heart as they found ways to converse without many words. Laughter is universal and so are hugs and smiles.
Language versus Communication
We can communicate even when language may not help. Saturday's schedule gave a workshop for both groups of children in the morning follwed by a hike to a lookout point for Camp Zama and then a BBQ in the evening for the youth only. The morning workshop (~2.5 hrs long) focused on communication among individuals, any two individuals. Since we had Japanese and American kids together, we focused on how language can sometimes be more of a problem than simple communication.