17.03.2022 – A streak of luck

Whale-watching is always a question of luck; we are lucky to share the planet with these magnificent creatures and even luckier to have the luxury of being able to encounter 28 different species of them near Madeira. Finding any one of these species and encountering them in a situation where they show interest and curiosity, is a question of experience.

Striped dolphins (Stenella coeruleoalba) belong to the more evasive dolphin species but, occasionally, they get curious and approach our boat to hitch a ride in the waves at our bow. Today they got curious; the dolphins raced towards our boat and began gliding alongside us, flashing their flank beautiful pattern as they leapt through the air. This streak of luck was succeeded by another. Our spotter soon sent us to a group of Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) that were in the company of a handful of Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). Our team was thrilled to find these enormous toothed whales in our waters after at least two months of their absence and even more excited to enjoy a mixed-species sighting involving them!

Having Bottlenose dolphins as one of the species during a mixed species sighting comes as no surprise to our team. The species is globally notorious for seeking interactions with other cetaceans  and, in many of the cases, an advantage in foraging is the assumed reason. Since Sperm whales dive much deeper than the Bottlenose to pursue their prey, so social reasons may be another plausible explanation for this interaction. In todays case it was a small group of Bottlenose dolphins that consisted of 4-6 animals, that presumably followed their enormous toothed whale cousins further west where we encountered them during the afternoon tour. It was hard to observe how these animals were interacting and decide on what function this interaction has, but one thing’s for sure: it was magnificent and we felt very lucky to experience it!

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

10:00 Bottlenose dolphins, Sperm whales, Striped dolphins

15:00 Bottlenose dolphins, Sperm whales