01.09.2020 – According to plan

Sightings success during our tours burn down to two factors. The first is the skill and experience of our crew, who try their best to facilitate a beautiful time at sea during every trip. The second is a factor completely out of our control; luck. Sometimes our crew struggle to find an animals under windy conditions and the Atlantic suddenly surprises us with an incredible sighting. Other times the conditions are perfect and the ocean feels like a desert.

Unfortunately, the latter was the case today. Our team already struggled to find Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) for our snorkelling tour this morning but thankfully managed to encounter a large group of Striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba). Finding this group wasn’t easy for our spotter and the shy nature of Striped dolphins make them a tricky species to approach. Despite this, our captain managed a lovely approach which lead to a close encounter with some of the animals with some dolphins even riding the waves at our bow.

The guests on our afternoon trip weren’t so lucky and returned to the harbour after a long search without a cetacean sighting. Instead, we managed to find a few Loggerhead turtles (Caretta caretta) basking at the surface, enjoying the practically empty looking ocean to themselves.

We always do our best to provide our clients with the best experience possible when out at sea but, like most things in life, this doesn’t always go according to plan and we will never be able to control things that are simply out of our control. The least we can do is make our time out on the ocean count and be celebrate all wonderful encounters with gratitude!

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Stenella

09:30 Striped dolphins

15:00 No cetacean sighting, Loggerhead turtle