14.08.2017- A family affair

Today was a very special day for me since I had two family members of mine aboard the snorkelling tour this morning on the Stenella. It was a rather small and very enthusiastic group of guests that helped us scan the water`s surface for animals to encounter in the water. After searching for around an hour, our spotter localised a small group of common dolphins, which hardly turn up at this time of the year. Although Commons tend to be less interactive than the Atlantic spotted dolphins,our guests in the water were approached by a mother and her tiny calf.

My next trip was the early afternoon trip on the Ribeira Brava where, contrary to this morning`s tour, we quickly found a large group of Atlantic spotted dolphins four nautical miles off the coast. The dolphins were very interactive and swam close to the boat for a long time before exhibiting typical hunting behavior and speeding off after their prey. These summer dolphins were also seen on all other trips in the afternoon. As soon as the dolphins left, we were incredibly fortunate to see a sperm whale not far from where we had seen the other animals and managed to get pretty close before the large animal, engaged in a another dive sequence. This was the perfect finale to a very special day.