BWB – On the journey
April 9, 2025
05.04.2025 – Blue in blue
April 12, 2025
Today we had a rough day. Madeira had been hit again by a storm, but today the conditions seemed good enough to go out, so we tried our luck with three trips. On the first trip we hadn’t any luck seeing cetaceans, although our spotter saw some. It happens, still the trip was highly enjoyed by the guests, as our guide Paula showed them other wonders of the sea like the Portuguese man-o-war (Physalia physalis) and a Bubble raft snail (Janthina janthina) which fed on the Portuguese man-o-war.
The second trip was a success in the sense that we saw two species of cetaceans, the Bottlenose dolphin (Tursiops truncatus) and the Short-finned pilot whale (Globicephala macrorhynchus). We couldn’t stay long with them as the sea conditions were taking a toll on us. Thus we went closer to shore where we saw a big group of Cory’s Shearwater (Calonectris borealis) and again the Portuguese man-o-war. Another find was a large peace of rope covered with marine life from crabs to fish eggs.
The third trip was a special trip, as we had a WAP Press group joining us. WAP or World Animal Protection, is an international organisation fighting for the rights of animals. Sadly this trip was not blessed with a sighting of cetaceans, but the ocean provided many different things to see, like the Portuguese man-o-war, the Bubble raft snail and the Cory’s shearwater.
By Horst Schulte
Sightings of the day
Stenella
9:30 Portuguese man-o-war, Bubble raft snail
13:30 Bottlenose dolphin, Short-finned pilot whale, Portuguese man-o-war, Cory’s Shearwater
16:00 Portuguese man-o-war, Bubble raft snail, Cory’s Shearwater
