We had another long day on the water yesterday with two boats full of hopeful whale shark watchers from around 1030hrs through 1600hrs. Good weather conditions all day with winds picking up from east and southeast (kusi winds) in the afternoon. Rob spotted one whale shark just after taking off near the outer reef but it was elusive in murky water and headed directly offshore and deep just as we arrived to try to jump in for tagging. Peter Zinetti was up in the Cessna for several hours to help Rob in his microlight for spotting. A second shark was spotted mid-afternoon but it used the same disappearing act to evade us. We were able to spend some time with a group of about a dozen bottlenose dolphins that included several young of the year.
Today is our last effort before I head back to San Diego tomorrow so we're hopeful that we'll put one too more tags out today. The weather looks great this morning and Rob and Peter will both be in the air again to allow exhaustive aerial surveying.
bs
Dr. Stewart boarding a gyrocopter in search of whale sharks
Brent Stewart, Ph.D., J.D.
Brent Stewart joined HSWRI as a field biologist in 1977 and has since conducted studies of the population biology, foraging and physiological ecology, and behavior of a variety of marine mammals, sea birds, sea turtles, and sharks. Dr. Stewart’s research expeditions have ranged from Greenland and Iceland in the North Atlantic south to Marion Island in the South Atlantic and Indian Ocean, in Russia's Lake Baikal, from the Beaufort and Bering Seas south through temperate, tropical and equatorial waters in the North Pacific Ocean, and in the Weddell, Amundsen, and Ross Seas of the Antarctic's Southern Ocean. For Brent's complete bio click here.
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