The next day we set out to try and sample some dolphins, or if not, at least detect the area were they usually hang around. We didn't leave to early as we still had to lower the dingy, and do some routine maintenance to the engine. We headed to around 4-5 miles off cape Mondego and then North to the area were we had seen dolphins the day before. However, at around lunch time, and besides our best efforts, we saw blue sharks (two of them), harbour porpoises, a dead dolphin (quite rotten and smelly, or so I was told!), each other, and lots of ocean. But no dolphins!
Looking for dolphins in the "desperate" position. This means getting a high viewpoint to get the longest range possible. I call it "desperate" as we usually don't really need to get there to find the animals, unless we are really desperate!
Finally a dolphin... not very healthy though!!! Because it was so rotten, I didn't took a sample. However, Rus (my supervisor and head of the lab) advised "Remember that project were we got DNA from 10.000 years old dolphins? Always worth to get a sample!". Well, next time!As the day progressed we eventually found some dolphins, but our encounter was brief. They were not interested in the boat at all, and we soon lost it. I'm not very used to common dolphins avoiding boats, especially big and slow ones, so I started wondering if we were going to see a repetition of Porto, with animals extremely weary of boats. We kept our search but without results. Eventually, boredom started to settle in, aided by some tiredness from the long day yesterday.
Karis and Ben accusing the long day between Porto and Figueira. We were all a bit like that to some extent!I decided to call it a day.We had confirm that dolphins could be seen in that area and we all needed some rest. We would try again next day.However, this wasn't any better. Pretty much the only dolphin we saw was a dead dolphin... again. This one was fresh though, and we approached to take a sample. We soon realized it was not alone, but was being eaten by 4 hungry blue sharks that fled as we approached in the dingy. Not very brave I would say (private joke to Ana! :) )!
As we approached we saw the side of the dolphin was heavily scared and I assumed the sharks did t while trying to eat the carcass. The dolphin revealed to be a male, and had the throat almost all eaten by the sharks, as well as part of the melon. We took a sample and on our way. However, no dolphins were seen this time. The wind soon increased and we headed back on sail. Figueira was proving hard to master!
Note the scars on the side of the yellow patch.
Looking at the genital area we can see it's a male. Females have additional two smaller slits on each side, corresponding to the mammary glands. They are, after all, mammals!We hoped for better days ahead, but really we were in for even worse. The next day, as we got out we realized the weather was absolutely rubbish! Wind, clouds, cold! Karis and Ben were asking were was the gorgeous Portuguese summer I told them about... "Well, you must have brought the weather with you from the UK! It's the only explanation I can find!" I replied joking. As this was Ben's last day, I decided to hoist sails and enjoy some good quality sailing. In the end the weather was only rubbish to sample, not to sail! The funniest part of the day was seeing Karis ferociously fighting the sail as she tried to hoist it!!!
Karis fighting the sail. She was victorious in the end!!!Karis also started to do steering and was the replaced to Ben. Ben proved an very good helmsman and we were soon doing almost 7 knots under his steering. Apparently, the fact he used to do car racing was the secret (private joke to Karis! :) )!
Next day we took Ben to the train station really early and went out to sea. The weather was not brilliant, but the wind had decreased slightly so we might have a chance. Just 3 miles of port finally, dolphins... lots of them! "Ben left the wrong day" I commented! However, seeing them and getting a sample were different matters.We got in the dingy after a few pictures and started approaching them to try and get a sample. They bowride for a while but soon became suspicious of the pole. After a while they were avoiding the boat altogether, and suddenly, for no apparent reason the all positioned themselves in a long line and starting swimming faster than I had ever seen a dolphin swim,jumping several meters above the water as they came out to breathe. In a few seconds, they were gone! I had never seen dolphins react like this!!! It was even worse than in Porto!
The only picture we were able to get from the dolphins fleeingAt this point it was clear that weary dolphins and bad weather was going to be the norm here in Figueira, so we dedicated the next few days to work on a method that would allow us to sample from Clavadel in the less intrusive way possible. We had to use the rifle, as the pole just tended to scare the animals.This meant we had to develop a method to recover the dart once it was fired. Recovering it with a net was impractical (as we saw last year) so it had some kind of line attached to it. After trying a few methods (shooting at the water and not dolphins obviously!) we came up with a simple on that looked good. The next day we tried the experimental design. We were obviously nervous as too if it would work, and we got ready when we saw dolphins. It was a small groups but it was somewhat comfortable by the boat. We fire the first shot... success!!! One sample on the dart. We get ready for another chance. We wait as to not sample the same individual again. We get our shot and... success again! The method seems to work. The only problem was, as for know, we needed two people to do it. We have to manage and get it to work single handed. Next day we got up early and went to a fishing shop just by the marina (ProShop Pesca). The person we talked too was extremely helpful and we got a really good system very cheap.
The first day we tried to do it we didn't' get any samples. We found a very good group that readily approached Clavadel and started bowriding. However,as soon as we got into the dingy they disappeared. "How can we loose 20 dolphins that were bowriding?" I asked Karis! I couldn't believe it. There is something in the dingy that dolphins from Figueira just don't like!!! Next day we know what to do, just don't get into the singy. However, the sea wasn't helping and it was too windy,so we had to come back. It was unfortunate, as it was Esther's last day.She was leaving to Cape Verde to work on marine turtles. As we were saying goodbye to her, she made the best suggestion ever. Next year, in these same two weeks they would all come on board together again.I thought it was a great idea!!!
Next day was a different matter though. Weather was brillinat, with literally no wind. We found a group but didn't get in the dingy. The first shots were a success, and in the first day we got 5 samples! The method works brilliantly and we don't need to get into the dingy allowing for a much more comfortable sampling. We were feeling very confident now. This was also the day we say good bye to Karis, as she was leaving back to Durham. It was also the day she took some of the most amazing pictures from this fieldseason.
Next day was just me and Neftalí, and was the last day that Neftalí would stay. We were confident as the forecast was the same as the day before, this is, almost no wind. However, we soon got the clear demonstration that forecast are just predictive models. The day was windy, rainy, cold, and miserable. We could still cruise at around 4.5 knots so we decided to keep going. We had to really, as we need more samples. We soon found a group of dolphins and I got ready. Two samples in no time, in spite of being short handed and the sea conditions quite bad. The new system really does work. However, the day was really bad to spot dolphins at a distance, and given that I had to process the samples and Neftalí had to steer at the same time he had to watch the dolphins, it was easy for us to loose them, what eventually happened. We still circled the area, but the weather was just getting worse. We decided to head back, but were happy given we were able to get more samples in such difficult conditions.
Neftallí left the same day and I was alone. The next day the new complete crew was arriving and I could sleep as late as i could for the first time since fieldwork began. This was most fortunate, as I really needed the rest. As for now, me and the new crew are staying in port waiting for the wind to weaken a bit. Nortada as settled in again in full strength, an today we had over 20 knots of wind inside the marina, that is usually protected from the North wind. I don't want to imagine how strong it was beyond cape Mondego!
The first day we tried to do it we didn't' get any samples. We found a very good group that readily approached Clavadel and started bowriding. However,as soon as we got into the dingy they disappeared. "How can we loose 20 dolphins that were bowriding?" I asked Karis! I couldn't believe it. There is something in the dingy that dolphins from Figueira just don't like!!! Next day we know what to do, just don't get into the singy. However, the sea wasn't helping and it was too windy,so we had to come back. It was unfortunate, as it was Esther's last day.She was leaving to Cape Verde to work on marine turtles. As we were saying goodbye to her, she made the best suggestion ever. Next year, in these same two weeks they would all come on board together again.I thought it was a great idea!!!
Next day was a different matter though. Weather was brillinat, with literally no wind. We found a group but didn't get in the dingy. The first shots were a success, and in the first day we got 5 samples! The method works brilliantly and we don't need to get into the dingy allowing for a much more comfortable sampling. We were feeling very confident now. This was also the day we say good bye to Karis, as she was leaving back to Durham. It was also the day she took some of the most amazing pictures from this fieldseason.
Next day was just me and Neftalí, and was the last day that Neftalí would stay. We were confident as the forecast was the same as the day before, this is, almost no wind. However, we soon got the clear demonstration that forecast are just predictive models. The day was windy, rainy, cold, and miserable. We could still cruise at around 4.5 knots so we decided to keep going. We had to really, as we need more samples. We soon found a group of dolphins and I got ready. Two samples in no time, in spite of being short handed and the sea conditions quite bad. The new system really does work. However, the day was really bad to spot dolphins at a distance, and given that I had to process the samples and Neftalí had to steer at the same time he had to watch the dolphins, it was easy for us to loose them, what eventually happened. We still circled the area, but the weather was just getting worse. We decided to head back, but were happy given we were able to get more samples in such difficult conditions.
Neftallí left the same day and I was alone. The next day the new complete crew was arriving and I could sleep as late as i could for the first time since fieldwork began. This was most fortunate, as I really needed the rest. As for now, me and the new crew are staying in port waiting for the wind to weaken a bit. Nortada as settled in again in full strength, an today we had over 20 knots of wind inside the marina, that is usually protected from the North wind. I don't want to imagine how strong it was beyond cape Mondego!
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