Research Field Notes: No. 7

7/9/2014 Dolphin Boat Survey

Today’s survey extended from the Jupiter Inlet (N 260 56.624' W 800 03.805') down to the Lake Worth Inlet [aka the Palm Beach Inlet] (N 260 46.300' W 800 03.500').

Wind conditions: N 0-10 ; Water conditions: 0-1

Duration: 9:00am-12:30pm

Research Organization: Taras Oceanographic Foundation

Recorded dolphin photo ID:

Today’s trip we had two encounters. The first was a single tursiops. We got great ID shots. The second encounter was 1-2 animals but we could not locate them again to get any id shots. It is a big ocean out there! It is sometimes hard to keep up or even find the dolphins on any given day. We did have one more encounter that was very funny. The rain was starting, so we stopped the boat at the mouth of the inlet and were packing up all the equipment. All of our backs were turned away from the water.  As soon as everything was stowed away, one dolphin jumped up right in front of the boat and gave everyone a startle. It was as if he was noticing we had packed up and wanted to mess with us. Needless to say, all the cameras came back out and we never saw the animal again! Was this a coincidence or dolphin games? You decide.

 The above image is three of our team members for this survey.

Other: Trash count:  17 items
Turtle count:  14
Sailfish – 1 (this was an awesome site of it jumping out of the water)

Extras: Here is an article on dolphin play (scholarly) and another dolphin play (general)