07.01.2026 – Winter guests are here

Today we saw a pod of Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) and this means our winter dolphins are finally here around Madeira. It was a bit strange that they hadn’t arrived yet, but now finally they are here. Common dolphins are beautiful dolphins with their whit/yellowish flanks and also for our enjoyment they are not shy and like to approach boats and play with us. Common dolphins are strong swimmers which can reach speeds of over 50km/h. They need it as they hunt for fast swimming shoal fish like sardines, garpike s and anchovies.

Apart from that we also saw some Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). This is one of the species which stay here around the island the whole year, so we consider them as one of our classics. They are also not shy, but don’t play as frequent with us than other species.

By Horst Schulte

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

13:00 Short-beaked common dolphins, Bottlenose dolphins

Stenella

13:30 Short-beaked common dolphins, Bottlenose dolphins