04.08.2024 – What is your mood today?

I find it fascinating how unique every single whale and dolphin species is. Until now, we know that there exist at least 90 different species of cetaceans in our worlds’ oceans. Every one of them surprises with amazing adaptations to their environment in the diverse habitats they live in, including incredible feeding strategies and diving capabilities. Almost one third of all known cetaceans have already been documented in Madeira. Being at sea, how are we able to determine which of these 26 species are we looking at? We observe the size, obviously. Encountering a massive baleen whale is different from a small dolphin. But it’s not only about different sizes, also the animals shapes, patterns and colorations. Even their swim pattern and behaviour changes depending on the species. And this is why our spotters are capable of presuming which kind of dolphins we might encounter at sea from many miles distant while sitting on land. Today’s morning trip was one of the best examples for these different dolphin characters. We started with the Risso’s dolphins (Grampus griseus), which is a stunningly beautiful dolphin species. They stand out because of their large, round heads and white scarring covering their skin. Typically, they are quite elusive and prefer to have some distance to boats. A lot of patience is needed to steer the boat around Risso’s dolphins, but as patience is often rewarded on the ocean, we managed to get a few moments with these deep diving dolphins. Following, we encountered Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus), which honestly seem to just don’t care much about us at all. Typically, they rather avoid us, nor are they curious. Even if you should not expect this species to perform any acrobatic leaps, their sheer size is impressive. Some days we can even hear them exhaling powerfully when they swim closeby. The whale watchers dream still remains the Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis), which I like to compare to (slightly hyperactive) puppies. There is no species more curiously following boats as soon as they hear an engine noise, they sometimes even jump towards us when we arrive and follow once we decide to leave. Today, our three encountered species behaved very typically to their normal behaviour, making it easy to recognize them from miles away. But as you can imagine, there are certain days, activities and moods in which any of these species might behave completely differently. Hopefully your mood is always cheerful and greatful after one of our tours!

By Sarah Kather

Sightings of the day

Click on each sighting to access the photo gallery of the correspondent trip

Ribeira Brava

09:30 Risso’s dolphins, Bottlenose dolphins, Atlantic spotted dolphins

13:30 Bottlenose dolphins

Stenella

09:30  Risso’s dolphins, Bottlenose dolphins, Atlantic spotted dolphins

14:00  Bottlenose dolphins

17:00 Cancelled due to bad weather conditions