14.09.2023 – Worthwhile

Our day started off with a placid ocean and a streak of luck. Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) were moving westward in a dispersed formation, with their little subgroups of “close friends” clearly visible for our guests. A few smaller dorsal fins then broke the surface further east and our spotter soon identified them as a pod of Blainville’s beaked whales (Mesoplodon densirostris). Luck is important when it comes to beaked whale sightings but, thankfully, the Blainville’s occasionally show curiosity in contrast to the others. Today, two curious females suddenly popped up near our boats and we were able to experience these elusive cetaceans up close! Magnificent! 

Our team wasn’t so lucky this afternoon. While our Stenella managed to find a single (!!) Atlantic spotted dolphin (Stenella frontalis), a fairly unusual sighting for these small social cetaceans, our Ribeira Brava unfortunately returned without a sighting.

We tried to find the pod that the single spotted dolphin belonged to later during our evening tours but ended up with a pod of Bottlenose dolphins near Cabo Girão. Our Ribeira Brava had to travel a long way to get to these dolphins but the little curious, jumpy calves in this nursery group of dolphins made it all worthwhile. 

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava 

09:30 Blainville’s beaked whales, Bottlenose dolphins

13:30 No sightings

17:00 Bottlenose dolphins

Stenella

09:30 Blainville’s beaked whales, Bottlenose dolphins

14:00 Atlantic spotted dolphin

17:00 Bottlenose dolphins