13.05.2022 – Sailing Beauty
May 20, 2022
16.05.2022 – Born to be free
May 22, 2022
Mays promising begin in regards to animals and stable weather had our team hoping that predictions for bad conditions today out at sea were false and we decided to assess the situation on site. With snorkelling tours conditions play an even more significant role as our team must assure the safety of our guests on the boat and in the water. The accelerating wind and waves didn’t make things look promising but, when our spotter called informing us of a small group of animals not too far from shore, we decided to give it a go. Just the previous day an enormous group of Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) had appeared out of nowhere after a long, hard search aboard our traditional boat. Maybe the Atlantic would be as generous today and maybe we’d even find a calmer area more sheltered to the difficult conditions to slide in with the animals.
We decided to give it a go with a hopeful confidence that things will turn out in our favour. Both boats searched far and wide and both our captains did their best to make the ride through the difficult conditions as comfortable as possible for our guests. We checked every area with birds and every hotspot along the south coast. Our spotter continuously changed his position and communicated with the few other boats at sea to check if they had seen something we had missed. All efforts were futile and both our boats returned to the marina without a sighting.
I’d be lying if I said such days aren’t difficult for our team. Us guides dislike telling the guests that we must return to the marina even without a sighting and our captains need to be more focused with challenging conditions. Nonetheless, this is the reality of what we do. What’s for sure is that our captains proved their excellent skills at sea under these conditions and we hope that this feeling of security combined with our effort will have some of todays guests come back to use their mermaid pass.
By Paula Thake
Sightings of the day
Ribeira Brava
10:00 No sighting
Stenella
09:30 No sighting
