Team 1, Day 5-10:

The remainder of Team 1’s days were full of photographing dolphins and observing sea otters. We began conducting focal follows of individual otters in order to record dive time, prey species and prey size. Linda took to these observations quickly and really enjoyed following one individual. From her station above the jetty, she even caught sight of a whale’s blow in the distance (which she noticed while her otter was on a dive, of course!). I think that the entire team got a good feel for what voracious appetites our sea otters have! Within the ten days that the team was here, we photo-identified 24 dolphins and added a few new dolphins to the catalog. Luna, Machete, Toodle-pip and Reg were added with love by Hannah, Hilary and Linda. Meanwhile, once everyone returned from the field, we all shared a lot of laughs and some delicious meals. Linda was always ready to help in the kitchen, while Hannah worked hard on the computer inputting the data from the day. Mark helped Daniela feel like she was in Italy again as they chatted in Italian night after night. After dinner the crew would split up, some heading for bed to prepare for an early morning while others stayed up gabbing and laughing late into the night. We want to thank Hannah for tirelessly entering Team 1’s data, Mark for keeping us entertained late into the night, Maho for taking video of all of our events, Hilary for our new British sayings (which we still use!), Jin for sharing his love of reptiles and awesome photos from Australia and Linda for always being an extra set of hands in the kitchen! You all made the beginning of our season very memorable.