Chingas

Ely successfully gave birth to her first calf, which brings Dolphin Quest Bermuda newborn total to three in as many weeks!

Once the sex of the calves are determined there will be a competition open to name the newborns. In the mean time I am calling Ely's calf 'Chingas' (Bermudian for 'wow') due to the circumstances that surrounded my attendance at the birth which I managed with 4 minutes to spare!

The low light levels and Ely's sporadic swimming pushed my camera to its limits. With the aperture at f-2.8, Shutter speed at 1/125sec and the ISO to the extreme of 6400 I managed to capture the 'flukes out' stage of the birth with no tripod.

As you can see below the calf came out tail first. These images are just two minutes before the calf was fully out and nudged to the surface by its Mum for its first breath.

Day one - Ely and Chingas

'Surfing' - Ely helping Chingas up for a breath

Caliban also helping her calf