01.10.2022 – A day for the books

October started with an absolute banger tour that literally made our heart beat faster. To quote a few or our guests ,,We can stop doing Whale Watching now cause it actually doesn’t get any better than this’’.
Starting off the usual excitement of Atlantic Spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) being as amazing as they are. The vigias call was, there is Sperm Whales (Physeter macrocephalus) six miles out.. And even on our traditional boat, the Ribeira Brava, we did this extra mile to go out and explore the worlds of Sperm Whales. Lucky we did, as it was the most memorable and humbling encounter you could wish for! We found this very curious and interactive Matriarchal pod of up to 8 mothers and newborn calfs, spyhopping, nursing, turning and twisting. The water was a whirlwind of activity that made it even difficult counting the amount of Whales. Curious as they were they moved closer to our boat, so we could observe the nursing act of baby Whale swimming underneath the mother to suckle close to mums mammary slit on a dense milk that is made of 45-60% fat. Nursing events occur mostly close to the surface so baby can breathe and feed at the same time. Its all about the right positioning, that we were lucky to observe.

Wouldn’t that be exciting enough, together with this pod we found a few Bottlenose enjoying this spectacle just as much.

By Paulina Kalita

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

10:00 Sperm Whales, Bottlenose dolphins, Atlantic spotted dolphins

Stenella

10:00 Sperm Whales, Bottlenose dolphins, Atlantic spotted dolphins

14:00 Sperm Whales, Bottlenose dolphins