08.12.2017 – Baltic Sea feeling
December 22, 2017
A Christmas Story in Madeira
December 24, 2017
With a little breeze from the West, contrary to the weather forecast and the previous days, on board the RIBEIRA BRAVA after sailing 4 nm out, we located a group of Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) and later on, two Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) that eventually dived down in to the abyss. During the first Bottlenose dolphins encounter and around the same area was a Black Scabbard fishing boat hauling their longlines. Some guests asked “why were they near the fishing boat?”. It could be by coincidence but some situations have been reported of opportunistic behaviour of this type of dolphins around fishing boat activities and it seems that some groups of dolphins are learning to unhook the fish for an easy meal. It shows the remarkable ability of adaptation of this animals but at the same time long term negative effects for both sides…..
by Daniel Jardim
Sightings of the day
Ribeira Brava
10:00 Bottlenose dolphins, Sperm whales
