03.07.2023 – A bit of everything

We had a day full of surprises out on the ocean today! We began the day in the waters of the far west of the island where our spotter had located several possible hunting situations that were marked by large groups of Cory’s shearwaters (Calonectris borealis). While we weren’t able to find any Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) for our snorkelling tour, our guests had the pleasure of enjoying encounters with Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) swimming alongside a pod of Short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus). This is one of the perks of conducting our activity in the waters of an oceanic island; its not a rarity to see more than one species in the same area or even experience them associating in some way. 

Guests on our early afternoon tour aboard the Stenella had the pleasure of experiencing a sighting with the largest of all toothed whales, the mighty Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus). Large males were moving through our waters this afternoon and our crew managed to reach the animals to watch them resting shortly at the surface before they lifted their fluke to dive into the deep. We finally found the spotted dolphins in the evening on board our zodiac and also found another tropical water species. A beautiful Bryde’s whale (Balaenoptera edeni), a species that unlike other baleen whales has a distribution restricted to tropical/subtropical latitudes, was discreetly passing through our waters. What a wonderful way to end the day!

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

09:30 Bottlenose dolphins, Short-finned pilot whales

Stenella

09:30 Bottlenose dolphins, Short-finned pilot whales

14:00 Sperm whales

17:00 Bryde’s whale, Atlantic spotted dolphins