Although the dolphins disappeared some seven weeks ago, the company believes the pair are still alive as there are still reported sightings with the most recent unconfirmed spotting a week ago.

Dolphin Quest spokesman Chris Heslop admitted the dolphins could be learning to cope on their own.

"That is their environment,'' he said. "There is a lot of bait fish in their waters.

"If they were not eating, they would be coming to the boats begging for food.

Gibbs has had 30 odd years of interacting with humans.

"They are used to people. They have lived around people all their lives and feel comfortable coming up to people.

"It's possible they swam off shore and got lost but it's highly unlikely they have gone into deep waters -- they are a coastal animal.

"There was a possible sighting at Ferry Reach which is where we found Cirrus and her calf. But I have absolutely no idea why they go there.'' After they had escaped from their pen during Hurricane Gert in September Dolphin Quest was able to make contact with them in the open water and feed them.

But Dolphin Quest lost contact shortly afterward and the company said the dolphins would only be able to last unfed for around two weeks before getting hungry unless they learned to fend for themselves.

Mr. Heslop was unable to say whether sightings were decreasing, but he appealed for the public not to forget the dolphins after a downturn in help from the public.

"We don't have the interest we did in the first couple of weeks, but we are certainly trying as hard as we were,'' he said.

"People are not in the water as much. They have taken their boats out and there's not so many leisure activities going on in the water. "There's not as many tourists in the hotels. A lot of our sightings were coming from there.

But people have been very good. They are still calling in.'' He stressed that sightings from the shore were still highly useful as it was possible to see things from height that were more difficult for spotters in boats to see.

"There are no small helicopters or planes around to cover that kind of water,'' Mr. Heslop said.

"We are still hopeful of finding them. There's no reason not to be hopeful that they are still in Bermudian waters.

"If someone is traveling along the shore and they can take a few minutes to stop and have a look for them, then we would appreciate it.'' If you spot a dolphin call Dolphin Quest on 239-6957.