First samples.

Some of you have complained about how long it took me to update the blog. Well, let's just say this past days haven't been easy! As you can see by the pictures on the alst post, the weather was not exactly pleasant in Porto, and it stayed like that for a while. We did go out, but mostly only to realize we couldn't do any work on those conditions. A few days after we arrived in Porto, Beata left and was replaced by 1st Mate. With a heavyweigth crew we could go out and sample in worst weather, but the dolphins were nowhere to be found. We eventually saw a small group, but the difficult conditions meant we got only 1 sample. Things weren't looking very good. Until finally...

Photo credit: Mikolaj Golachowski

Photo credit: Mikolaj Golachowski

We found a very big group of dolphins, and followed them almost until sunset. We got 9 samples, asn for at least one day we were excited about the outcome. We arrived at Porto during the night, which was quite busy trying to get everything ready for the next day. However, the excitemente was short lived, as the weather was definitely not favourable. The wind was creating small and short waves, the kind that make life on board very uncomfortable. We found dolphins, but getting a sample was extremely hard. We still managed to get one though!

We did had days of good weather, but dolphins failed to show up. In fact, we saw nothing until the day 1st Mate left, were we did see a small group at the end of the day, but it just aproached the boat, circled it once, and left. In the end, we did get as many samples as last year, but this concerns only one good day of sampling. As for now, we are staying here for a bit longer, but as soon as the weather is favourable, we will sail South to Figueira. Mário will be coming back to serve as crew, and we hope to get a few sample more from Porto before the end of the week.If not, we hope Figueira will be better!