My mind has been up! I have given my deposit! I am going! The past few years I have received the earthwatch working vacation catalogue. Its very exciting, just like getting a seed or plant catalogue, garderners will understand that 
My family thinks I have completely lost my mind, paying to take a vacation, but I do not view it that way at all, I am more than willing to pay for the experience. This is my vacation for 2005, can anyone honestly top it?
Kaikoura Peninsula, New Zealand - Tour boats bring as many as 180 people per day to swim with the acrobatic dusky dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obscurus) that live in the shallows off this spectacular peninsula. In the past ten years, Kaikoura has become a Mecca for ecotourists who want to see whales and swim with dolphins. Clearly dolphins are good for business—an excellent incentive to protect them—but is business good for the dolphins?
Veteran Earthwatch scientist and world-renowned marine mammal biologist Dr. Bernd Würsig (Texas A&M University) is continuing his long-term study of dolphin social ecology and impacts of human activities on dolphin populations. So far, researchers have documented no overall negative effect of tourism on the more than 1,000 dusky dolphins in the local breeding population. Earthwatch teams will continue to monitor the dolphins’ movements, group sizes, and vocal behaviors to help make recommendations on numbers and types of vessels to affiliate with animals throughout the year. Of particular concern are small groups of female dolphins with calves, which are more sensitive to disturbances than other groups.
This year, Würsig will be in the field part-time with biologist and naturalist Nick Duprey, who will be leading all the teams. Tasks will rotate between land and sea. To refine details of dusky dolphin population biology and responses to tourists at sea, you will take identification photos, observe behavior, and monitor vocalizations using a hydrophone. On alternate days atop a limestone cliff, you will track dolphin movements and observe interactions with whale-watching and swim-with-dolphin tourboats. You will learn to spot dusky, bottlenose, and Hector’s dolphins, sperm whales, killer whales, and sea birds. Your findings will help managers make the marine ecosystem work for both dolphins and tourists.
Field Conditions: Be prepared for long hours on the water and a steep climb to the vantage point. You’ll stay in a modern rented house with all the amenities and an ocean view, in the lovely village of Kaikoura. Enjoy testing the culinary prowess of your teammates.
For some of the most unusual vacations you could imagine check out their website.
www.earthwatch.org/
My family thinks I have completely lost my mind, paying to take a vacation, but I do not view it that way at all, I am more than willing to pay for the experience. This is my vacation for 2005, can anyone honestly top it?
Kaikoura Peninsula, New Zealand - Tour boats bring as many as 180 people per day to swim with the acrobatic dusky dolphins (Lagenorhynchus obscurus) that live in the shallows off this spectacular peninsula. In the past ten years, Kaikoura has become a Mecca for ecotourists who want to see whales and swim with dolphins. Clearly dolphins are good for business—an excellent incentive to protect them—but is business good for the dolphins?
Veteran Earthwatch scientist and world-renowned marine mammal biologist Dr. Bernd Würsig (Texas A&M University) is continuing his long-term study of dolphin social ecology and impacts of human activities on dolphin populations. So far, researchers have documented no overall negative effect of tourism on the more than 1,000 dusky dolphins in the local breeding population. Earthwatch teams will continue to monitor the dolphins’ movements, group sizes, and vocal behaviors to help make recommendations on numbers and types of vessels to affiliate with animals throughout the year. Of particular concern are small groups of female dolphins with calves, which are more sensitive to disturbances than other groups.
This year, Würsig will be in the field part-time with biologist and naturalist Nick Duprey, who will be leading all the teams. Tasks will rotate between land and sea. To refine details of dusky dolphin population biology and responses to tourists at sea, you will take identification photos, observe behavior, and monitor vocalizations using a hydrophone. On alternate days atop a limestone cliff, you will track dolphin movements and observe interactions with whale-watching and swim-with-dolphin tourboats. You will learn to spot dusky, bottlenose, and Hector’s dolphins, sperm whales, killer whales, and sea birds. Your findings will help managers make the marine ecosystem work for both dolphins and tourists.
Field Conditions: Be prepared for long hours on the water and a steep climb to the vantage point. You’ll stay in a modern rented house with all the amenities and an ocean view, in the lovely village of Kaikoura. Enjoy testing the culinary prowess of your teammates.
For some of the most unusual vacations you could imagine check out their website.
www.earthwatch.org/
