Temperature: 25°c.
Location: Vester Marine Field Station (and surrounding waters) Fort Myers, FL.
Observed species behaviours:
- Dolphin locomotive behaviour (swimming).
- Dolphin locomotive behaviour (diving).
- Grey Heron locomotive behaviour (flying).
- White ibis resting behaviour (perching).
After a wonderful day spent at Lovers Key, building on our knowledge and embracing our stunning surroundings, we turned to our adventurous sides and headed out on the surrounding waters via canoe.
We split into pairs, lifting the heavy canoes from the rack to push them energetically into the water, ready to set sail.
I soon grasped the concept of the simple arm movements required in order to successfully manoeuvre the canoe (after sailing into mangrove shrubs on numerous occasions and frightening Carla with my uncertainty…)
Rowing left and right, we stopped as we became mesmerised by the dolphins diving in the not-so-far distance. They proceeded to swim joyously in friendly pods as we moved forwards and headed in the same direction.
We engaged in the canoeing activity for roughly 2 hours, before rowing back to the field station in preparation for our second debrief of the trip.