Ship’s Log Day 1- Saturday, July 27th, 2024
The crew awoke slightly hungover from the evening revelries the night before, celebrating the successful completion of the first week on Celtic Mist. Three members of the crew decided to still attempt the local Fenit park run despite not functioning under the best circumstances- one member was the fastest woman in the park run, one member finished shortly behind her, and the final member threw up in the bushes. The rest of the day was spent cleaning, reprovisioning the supplies, and doing immense amounts of laundry. Most of the crew was staying on for the next survey, but hugs and a tearful goodbye were said to the lovely Mark and Sean who had sailed with us on the SDP 3 leg- they were truly amazing crewmembers to have, always willing to help out, learn about photo-ID, and provide great craic while doing the dishes. The early afternoon was spent napping and reading in the sun, and soon we welcomed Emma and Susi onboard for our first crew dinner- the next week of research and surveys had officially begun!
Ship’s Log Day 2- Sunday, July 28th, 2024
Our first day of research consisted of a 9-hour survey around Brandon Bay with 6 sightings of bottlenose dolphins. The weather was sunny, and the seas were fairly calm, so the crew enjoyed taking turns sitting on the bow of Celtic Mist and enjoying the beautiful scenery. The dolphins were numerous, and we saw as many as 25 in a single sighting. We enjoyed the return of Kite, one of the dolphins that consistently followed us around last week, who enjoys bow riding along Celtic Mist. Captain Liam and biologist Harvey enjoyed rigging up the GoPro to a boat hook and filming underwater as the dolphins swam alongside us. We took a minute to venture into Sauce Creek, a beautiful bay that had extremely tall cliffs surrounding us on all sides. We could see goats climbing vertically along the cliffs, and we spotted the remnants of the moon jellyfish congregation that we discovered last week. Although the numbers of jellyfish had diminished greatly, it was still a beautiful sight.
Ship’s Log Day 3- Monday, July 29th, 2024
After Sunday’s long survey, the crew decided to have a relaxing morning by sleeping in and gathering for a peaceful group breakfast. The peace was not to last, however, as we pulled up our anchor in Brandon Bay to find a massive fishing net had become twisted around it, and many trailing lines kept us firmly in place. It took the better part of a half hour and all hands on deck as we used three boat hooks, several knives, and a lot of hanging over the railings to cut ourselves free from the trailing lines. The bulk of the net was still stuck on the anchor, but we tied it up out of the way and navigated straight towards Fenit marina so we could properly cut ourselves free. Along the way we saw a couple of sightings of energetic bottlenose dolphins, with lots of breaching, bow riding, and side slaps occurring. One dolphin was continuously spinning under the water, and Susi counted roughly 18 straight rotations! Entering Fenit harbor we saw the Fenit Three, three bottlenose dolphins from Scotland that are always seen travelling tightly together. Once in the marina, the small rib was deployed and the anchor was fully cleaned, ready for another day of surveying the Irish coast.
Ship’s Log Day 4- Tuesday, July 30th, 2024
Tuesday brought us our biggest challenge yet- a thirteen-hour survey making our way north from Fenit harbor to Donegal Point. We surveyed from sunrise to sunset, and although the crew was mildly confused on the time of day (we had lunch at 9am), it was a very worthwhile day. We had five sightings throughout the day and had many wonderful chances to see social behavior being exhibited. We saw multiple calves spy-hopping, adults surface rushing for fish, and many dolphins of all age classes breaching and fully leaping out of the waves. The weather held steady, and Celtic Mist was finally able to make it as far north as Donegal Point. The Shannon Dolphin project surveys have been trying to make it this far north for years, but the weather had always thwarted their plans- so everyone was in high spirits to have finally been successful! The long trek was worth it- we photographed and identified some bottlenose dolphins that had not been seen in years. Celtic Mist anchored in Carrigaholt Bay for the night, and the crew turned in for a well-deserved sleep!
Ship’s Log Day 5- Wednesday, July 31st, 2024
Although Tuesday’s survey was long, it was still quite calm- nothing like Wednesday’s survey. We stayed in the outer Shannon estuary, and in the 7.5-hour survey we managed to have 12 sightings. The first eight sightings occurred in only a two-hour period, and everyone on the crew was feeling bombarded by dolphins. The second one sighting ended more dolphins appeared, so the boat was a cacophony of crew members shouting “dolphins!”, one of the biologists shouting “hit F1!”, poor biologist Jo running around trying to get the information necessary to update logger before the next sighting began, and the Shannon Dolphin Project head biologist Mags standing at the mast screaming “spacers!!” in an attempt to keep our data as organized as possible despite the chaos. Despite being out of breath and frazzled, a good amount of photo-ID data was collected, which was well worth the chaos of the morning. Multiple mother and calf pairs were seen, and a particular calf, 903, chose to bow ride Celtic Mist for extended periods of time. The crew enjoyed seeing the beautiful scenery of the outer Shannon estuary, and after staying up late to organize all the photos, turned in for another night at anchor.
Ship’s Log Day 6- Thursday, August 1st, 2024
The final day of the SDP 4 survey ended a bit sooner than anticipated as Celtic Mist needed to return to Kilrush marina to safely harbor before the upcoming storm the following week. We performed one last survey of the outer Shannon estuary and had three sightings of bottlenose dolphins. A mother and calf pair, 96 + 903, stayed with us throughout the entire survey and often approached to bow ride and shark alongside us. After a high-tension scenario of navigating Celtic Mist back through the lock gates, we had officially ended another week of surveying along the Irish coast. A huge thanks to everyone from the IWDG, especially Mags, who made this bottlenose dolphin survey possible, and a massive thank you to the best navigation crew any scientist could ask for, Liam and Irene! The crew had one last celebratory dinner together, and in the morning hugs and well-wishes were exchanged by the crew as everyone said one final goodbye to Celtic Mist, and then went their separate ways.
By Dominique Mellone
SDP Intern