12.04.2019 – Tranquility & serenity – Strength & joy of life
April 23, 2019
15.04.2019 – Identifying feature
April 25, 2019
Our Ribeira Brava cruised 3 nautical miles off the Southwest coast of Madeira today to meet a herd of Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) that kept their distance but surprised us with a few high leaps as they pursued their prey at the surface. Filipe then steered the boat out into the open ocean to meet a relatively small, shy group of Striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) at eight nautical miles from the coastline before it was time to head back again.
Both encounters were relatively short but our guests seemed extremely satisfied and thankful for meeting these charming creatures in their natural habitat. Of course we cannot program the Atlantic ocean and the professional skills of our talented team can only do so much.
I love what I do and am honoured to meet these incredible beings out in the ocean and share my knowledge with our guests and my hero, David Attenborough, also recently mentioned a fact that strengthened this sentiment even more. At the premiere of Netflix’s new series “Our planet”, Attenborough stated that “96% of all living mammals are us and our livestock. Only 4% is everything else” This is a horrific reality of our time, we are living through the sixth great extinction in our planet’s history and are the reason for it.
What gives me hope is seeing others appreciate the small percentile of mammals we meet during our tours and how grateful they are for these encounters. We have created a world where such encounters will become increasingly difficult and I think we can all agree that it is so wonderful to share this world with such magnificent creatures. Food for thought.
By Paula Thake
Sightings of the day
Ribeira Brava
10:00 Bottlenose dolphins, Striped dolphins
