Saturday, February 17, 2018

JoJo Snipper and Bo

Hi All, The ospreys are happily sitting on their messy nest. There are pieces of twine and green plastic bags mixed in with an untidy assortment of twigs. I recognize the green bag from the IGA! Apparently they feel the same way I do about interior decorating! We have invited four people to come out today. The pressure's on to find cetaceans! After passing through the channel markers we drop the hydrophone but again only hear whales in the distance. JoJo has been in the same place for the past few mornings and I want to get there at about the same time, so I suggest motoring around out here a little before heading inside the reef so as to arrive on schedule. We find no whales and head back inside the reef. We head down the coast and two dorsals pop up near a sail boat that is anchored near Ocean Club. I figure JoJo may have slept around that boat last night. Snipper and JoJo come to visit but it is so murky I can't see a thing when I get in. They pop up around me but I'm having trouble staying with them. Snipper does let me have a short swim with him before he disappears into the chalky turquoise water. I get back in Spy Hop and JoJo gets in our wake. We are his Uber driver! Snipper heads off in a different direction. We head out to clear water and I get in again. This time JoJo wants to follow me. I'm trying to film him swimming behind me which is almost impossible. I decide maybe he'd like it if I dive up and down with the scooter as I swim. He zipps up close behind me. Then I try swerving back and forth. I look back he's imitating me!!! We have a new game! Unfortunately a sail boat comes by and JoJo swims up to it. I think maybe he'll follow it. I get in Spy Hop so we can keep up. He decides to come back to us, his Uber ride continues. We go past Beaches, turn around, head all the way past Pine Cay and on to Dellis Cay. John doesn't like to motor too far past Dellis Cay because of the coral heads and shallow water. Apparently JoJo felt the same way because he branched right as we were discussing when to turn back. He went into sleep mode enabling Ted, one of our guests, to climb in with the famous JoJo. A boat came by and put their anchor down so JoJo could scratch. He swam over and entertained them for a while then came back to Spy Hop to continue his Uber ride. We take him down the coast right to where he branched yesterday in front of Seven Stars Resort. I see another dorsal and realize why he branched. Bo is darting from place to place. She's clearly fishing. I get in with JoJo and we watch as she chases down some Bar Jacks. I am careful to stay with JoJo. I've learned my dolphin etiquette lesson. Don't interfere with fishing dolphins! She comes racing under us and nails a Bar Jack. I wish JoJo would get a fish. I haven't seen him fish since he got the puncture wound. I usually see him crater fishes off and on whenever we are swimming. The puncture does look better today. The swelling is way down and the wound looks like a little volcano that erupted. I however have noticed that under his rostrum there seems to be some abrasions and yellow strands of perhaps pus near his mouth. I really hope all this resolves quickly. Dolphins eat 20 lbs of fish a day and I'm not sure he's eating anything. I will be watching closely everyday. There's a rain cloud heading our way despite the 100% prediction of no precipitation. I'm pretty sure our guests got more cetacean activity than they ever imagined! Time to head in.

JoJo,Snipper and Bo from Jay Sargent on Vimeo.

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