14.07.2023 – Out of the blue

Today was another challenging day for our team but we did our best to make the most out of what the Atlantic had to offer. In the morning both our boats managed a lovely sighting with Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) before heading out to find another species. Our Stenella team was targeting pods of Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) or Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus Delphis) for our snorkelling participants but, despite the long search, we weren’t able to find any within our search area. 

In the afternoon our spotter saw a Cuvier’s beaked whale (Ziphius cavirostris) surfing the waves far offshore and our Stenella crew was lucky enough to manage a brief sighting for our guests. Encountering a Cuvier is no walk in the park; currently the species holds the record for the deepest and longest dive of all known mammals. The guests on board our traditional boat ended up not seeing these deep divers but got lucky nonetheless with a surprise sighting of a Mediterranean monk seal (Monachus monachus), the rarest and most endangered seal species on our planet.

While our mid-afternoon tours were characterised by sightings of rare and elusive mammals, the evening tour was dominated by Madeira’s Stenella species; the Striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) and the curious spotted dolphins. The pods seemed to turn up completely out of the blue after an afternoon of long searches and our team was delighted to have them around! 

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

09:30 Bottlenose dolphins

13:30 Mediterranean monk seal

Stenella 

09:30 Bottlenose dolphins

14:00 Cuvier’s beaked whale

17:00 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Striped dolphins