Thunder & Lightning, stormy seas continue. We had a few sightings during the day and our first encounter from the dinghy late in the afternoon. Concordia (#114) was with a group of five other dolphins. They were young and seemed to be playing and feeding. They were not inquisitive about us at all. The visibility was pretty poor – low light due to so many clouds and the late time of day. Seems Mother Nature has other plans for us this week – the seas don't seem to be getting any better for us.
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Leaving Port
Clouds, Choppy Seas We stopped and dropped anchor just north of Memory Rock. The seas were choppy with a two foot swell. But we saw one bottlenose dolphin and the feeling was for a good week. Our first group of passengers for this season is from the Tennessee Aquarium. They came with lots of questions and an enthusiasm to help with our research. I think we'll all have a good week and learn lots from each other. There are two couples: Ken and Ruth Ann and Jerry and Mary. Then we have Maxine, Polly, Mary and Sarah.
One last posting prior to departure.
Our passengers arrive in a few hours. I chatted with a few people who were on last week's trip with a different group. They had several sightings of dolphins and even saw Stubby about an hour north of our port, St. Tropez Marina. The sky is cloudy but with billowy white shapes. The wind is light and I believe we should have a good day tomorrow. Cheers for now.
Travel to the Bahamas
Great flights and good feelings upon arrival. An early morning departure brought us to the Bahamas in the early afternoon. All our gear, equipment and clothing (mostly bathing suits and shorts) arrived safely. Bill was already here and Peppie greeted us with a loud (loud) hello and hugs. We unpacked and helped prep the boat a bit and then settled in for the evening. Tomorrow the passengers arrive and we'll leave on Sunday. So, I'll be writing more to this field report site later this week …
Bahamas’ White Sand Ridge – 2002
Atlantic spotted dolphins – data collection field season Welcome to my 11th year studying the Atlantic spotted dolphins north of Grand Bahama Island (GBI) – examining their communication and patterns of signal exchange. We will continue to record dolphin behavior and sounds underwater with simultaneous video/audio gear and observe how dolphins interact with one another. We are into our second and third generations of dolphins (since 1991). It is wonderful to see our old dolphin friends, watch youngsters grow and see the next generation thrive.
DCP 2002 Field Season at Mikura Island, Japan
Summary of Effort and Data Collected. From 37 days in the field, we had 18 boat trips, with video recorded on each trip. (9 extra trips included Robin & Joana). Each trip is 2 hours long which gave us 36 hours, 21 minutes of effort and 374 minutes of video. Our 'return on effort' was 17.15% – almost double that of previous years! We also gathered 391 minutes of audio data with the click detector.
Rain cancels Iruka Festival.
Research summaries and talks make up the day. I spent today getting caught up on writing a few summaries and other bits of information regarding my time on Mikura this year. Also, because Kazumi is a talented interpreter and willing to help us, I was able to communicte more easily with some of the other researchers today. That is, we talked about the workshop and its affects. We also talked about some research ideas and various future possibilities.
The afternoon was a bit relaxing with another visit from the three boys from yesterday.
The kindergarten.
Sharing dolphin (and shark stories), and … The morning was spent at the kindergarten first teaching them a bit about the dolphins around Mikura and the spotted dolphins in the Bahamas. I showed the 8 kids a short video and some photos and posters. We chatted a bit and I did my best to answer their questions. Then, we played. It was raining (of course) so we ran around in the gym next door. Chase and tag began our foray and then we kicked around some soccer balls … a nod to the World Cup.
Last Day for Field Work
Watching dolphins from the shore The old pier took about ~30 years to fully complete and was built about 40-50 years ago. The new pier was completed last year and took about 5 years to build. The new pier provides a more protected area for the fishing boats, and this is now where we meet the boats to go out looking for dolphins.
Today was sunny and warm. Hot actually and a bit humid. But it felt good to dry out after several days of rain.
You guessed it … rain.
Fog, wind … and more. My front door opens to a view of the sea. It is spectacular. I feel very fortunate to be able to greet each day with a view of the ever-changing ocean surface. Today, the changes seemed to occur every half hour, and all changes contained some level of bad weather. The wind did not stop blowing today, only changed directions. The sea was awash in white. Spray from the tops of waves was blowing like a sheet across the water.