14.09.2018 – Into another world

It took us long to find any activity on the ocean during todays afternoon trip. We went off to the West and then in a wide circle back to the East when our spotter called us: “Bird activity, a whale, maybe some more”. In the unbelievable distance of eleven miles offshore there was a lot going on.

Several hundreds of seabirds, mainly Corey´s Shearwaters (Calonectris borealis), were circling and diving, the dark rounded backs of hunting tuna (Thunnus spec.) could be seen at the surface, an intense fishy smell was in the air and at least four big baleen whales, Sei whales (Balaenoptera borealis) and Tropical whales (Balaenoptera edeni), were feeding. We could see them coming up for air, hear them exhale and even smell their breath. There was so much going on, it was hard to decide on where to focus.

It felt like diving into another world. We were so far away from land witnessing a rare event of diverse marine creatures having a joint meal – a truly fascinating scenery.

When we were on the way back to the marina and still fed up with all the impressions, a pod of super playful Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) came flying by. The animals were jumping a lot and speeded up around the boat. This was the perfect finish of an awesome excursion into another world, a world far out in the endless maritime blue.

by Jan-Christopher Fischer

Sightings of the day

Stenella

08:30 (Snorkeling) Atlantic spotted dolphins

15:30 Sei whales, Tropical whales, Atlantic spotted dolphins