21.06.2023 – Mathematics

Finding animals for our whale-watching tours doesn’t just depend on our spotters locating them at sea. It also burns down to strategically understanding the movement of groups and analysing where they could be and, of course, how willing would they be to interact. 

This little game of “mathematics” is a daily thing here at Lobosonda and involves efficient exchange between our crew at sea and the spotter on land. This is particularly true for groups of Bottlenose Dolphins (Tursiops truncatus) that pass through the coastal waters like small coast guard fleets. Their preferred proximity to the coastline puts them into frequent contact with boats so understanding from where they arrived and where they are going is key to find them and keep our impact minimal. 

Atlantic spotted dolphins (Stenella frontalis) tend to prefer offshore waters and are often seen leaping after schools of fish these days so we tend to search at least 4 nautical miles off the coastline to find them. Beaked whales (Mesoplodon densirostris) are another story. Here our spotter observes and times the shallow dive intervals and our crew waits in the area for this amount of time. If the animals don’t surface within that time frame, they probably won’t for at least 40 minutes! This strategy spares our team a difficult wait at the surface and wins us time for other sightings, such as of Portuguese Man O’ Wars (Physalia physalis) or other little critters that could be colonising debris on the ocean. 

At the end of the day it’s all about making the most of our time at sea and that way, things certainly never get boring!

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

09:30 Bottlenose Dolphins

13:30 Blainville’s beaked whales, Bottlenose Dolphins

Stenella

13:30 Blainville’s beaked whales

16:00 Atlantic spotted dolphins, Blainville’s beaked whales