12.05.2025 – A rare close-up

This morning both our boats enjoyed wonderful sightings with cetaceans, including Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis) and Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis). While both these beautiful dolphins are an absolute pleasure to encounter, they were not the marine mammal highlight today. Our boats encountered a Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus) on their way back to the marina, an emblematic and extremely important species for Madeira.

Mediterranean monk seals are the most endangered seal species in the world and Madeira is proud to host a small but valuable colony of around 21 individuals. This status, however, also commands absolute respect and vigilance around these magnificent sea wolves. Should anyone be lucky enough to find themselves in the vicinity of a monk seal, the local research project VECLAM encourages them to report the sighting which is exactly what our team did. We hope that our data can help in further conservation efforts for the species here in Madeira that is facing an array of threats including high pup mortality, commercial fishing, habitat destruction and low genetic variability in the tiny colony.

For more information we encourage our guests to visit the VECLAM website, providing information on the animals, their threats and how to handle encounters.

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

09:00 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Short-beaked common dolphins, Mediterranean monk seal

13:00 Atlantic spotted dolphins

Stenella

09:30 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Mediterranean monk seal

13:30 Atlantic spotted dolphins