13.02.2024 – Carnival on the Atlantic

This year’s Carnival Tuesday started blissfully with a sighting of a pod of Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) darting hastily westward and socialising at the surface. The animals were cutting through the ocean’s surface in pairs and leaping above each other, a behaviour that can be associated with mating. Closely, a group of Short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus) surfaced to catch their breath between their foraging dives in the deep. It’s likely that the Bottlenose dolphins were moving with the pod of pilot whales, as the sighting took place at 3-4 nautical miles offshore which tends to be pilot whale territory. Although our sighting of both species together was brief, it’s safe to assume that there was some sort of association going on.

In the afternoon, the wind picked up making the ride to our wonderful sighting near Cabo Girão a little more bumpy than expected…but it was totally worth it! Our spotter had located a large pod of Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) resting at the surface, that soon assembled with other pod members to spend some quality family time. Sightings of Sperm whales resting and socialising at the surface are the absolute best, it’s almost like they don’t even care that we are around. Not even the pesky pod of Bottlenose dolphins circling around the group could distract the sperm whales from giving their conspecifics their full attention and we enjoyed these lovely moments with the animals for a while before cruising back to Calheta with a boat full of smiles! 

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Stenella 

09:30 Bottlenose dolphins, Short-finned pilot whales

13:30  Bottlenose dolphins, Sperm whales