20.03.2019 – The cherry on the cake

I honestly did not expect the Atlantic ocean to be so generous to us today and the surprises that were in store were beyond magical! On both trips today our crew and guests on the Ribeira Brava cruised to and fro from sightings involving no less than 4 different cetacean species.

In the course of our morning trip we encountered an interactive school of beautiful Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus dephis) before moving on to a group of Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) swimming alongside some Short-finned pilot whales (Globicephala macrorhynchus). We finished off nicely with a group of logging Sperm whales (Physeter macrocephalus) who happened to be right on our course as we were heading back to the marina.

The day started off extremely well with a trip that was very hard to beat but our afternoon tour turned out to be nothing short of exhilirating. Sperm whales were the first on the menu on the second trip with the Ribeira Brava having to venture out 5 nauticual miles from Tabua. We remained with the animals shortly before cruising to the same distance outside Calheta, where we again met some interactive Bottlenose dolphins and Pilot whales and… yet another herd of Sperm whales! It seems there are currently two groups of these giants around Madeira which is good news for our team as these animals tend to stay for some days before continuing their journey through the ocean. The day was not over; as we were heading back to the marina we saw another group of Sperm whales before coincidentally stumbling upon a small herd of Blainville’s beaked whales (Mesoplodon densirostris), a species we hadn’t encountered in a while.

As we left the beaked whales I turned to Filipe, our skipper, and told him that the last sighting was simply „the cherry on the cake“ today. What an absolutely fantastic end to a spectacular day! We hope our guests cherish these memories and appreciated being spoilt with such incredible sightings by the vast Atlantic.

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

10:00 Bottlenose dolphins, Short-beaked common dolphins, Short-finned pilot whales, Sperm whales

14:30 Bottlenose dolphins, Blainville’s beaked whales, Short-finned pilot whales, Sperm whales