Costa Rica 2023
Field Work
We encountered 11 Bottlenose Dolphins as soon as we got near the Rincon river. There were 4 calves, 1 juvenile, 6 adults and 3 generations. We spent a lot of time with them and they were curious about us. They were spy hopping and swimming under the boat and foraging and traveling. We fell in love with the young calves. While we were watching the Dolphins chase the Needle fish, one of them was running on top of the water and heading right to the boat and slap, it hit the boat and went underwater. We were all mesmerized and as it got closer, we all thought it was going to jump into the boat with us and we all screamed. Then we all started laughing and Lesli said “This is the craziest shit I’ve seen in a long time”. It was so funny. I laughed so much; I had tears running down my face.
The rest of the day was spent watching the dolphins swim under water and seeing the mother Bottlenose dolphin rub the belly of her calf and getting it all on film. Amazing!
DAY 5
Laura "Ladybug" Lanik
Workshop
Lesli helped us start thinking about our lesson plans and had us work together in pairs. I was able to make a decision and narrow down my lesson plan topic.
Reflection
This was by far the best day on the boat. It was an amazing day!!
We saw Bottlenose Dolphin calves for the first time, and they were so sweet. We learned 3 generations were traveling together. The Needle fish incident was something I will never forget and remember all my life.
David took over 2000 pictures today and they were all so impressive. Lenin talked about the gestation and calving periods of life and my biggest takeaway was that we cannot assess nature from our human perspective. Which I take to mean we cannot and should not put our emotional judgements onto nature or mammals. So far this has been an amazing experience. I love the sea life in Golfo Dulce!!
Photo of the Day
Video of the Day
