Don Lewis Filming Dolphins at Height of Nor’easter
Gale force winds howled across the Outer Cape. Sweeping in from the North Atlantic, storm clouds pelted Wellfleet with horizontal snow; flakes so heavy they seemed to richochet like shotgun pellets when they smashed against the wooden pier. Sue Wieber Nourse spotted the first dorsal fin when it poked through the broil near the harbor buoy. First a pair of dolphins skimmed across the foam, then another, and so on until we counted no fewer than six good size specimens. Visibility hampered species identification, although these critters left the intuitive impression with Don that they may be a pod of Atlantic white-sided dolphins.
Click Here to View Video in High Quality
Dolphin Pod Takes Storm Refuge in Wellfleet Harbor
The dolphins patrolled like sentinels, back and forth between the harbor buoy and the commercial fishing pier. None of the animals appeared in distress, but Wellfleet’s huge tidal swings augmented by a blistering nor’easter pose a threat to anyone or any creature at sea.  So, with the tide still falling, we alerted the Marine Mammal Stranding Network, just in case the rescue of a beached animal might be in the cards.
A harbor seal surfaced about 25 feet from the pod with a quizzical expression as though silently asking, “Who the heck are you and what are you doing in my harbor?”
[…] Turtle Journal Saving the World, One Turtle at a Time « Dolphins Take Refuge from Powerful Nor’easter in Protected Wellfleet Harbor […]