22.01.2024 – Colour & Greyscale

Today both our boats met the dolphins to match their colour scheme. Before our beautiful and colourful traditional boat went on dry-dock, it enjoyed a last lovely sighting with Short-beaked common dolphins (Delphinus delphis), Madeira’s vibrant winter dolphins. These seasonal visitors don’t just impress with their gorgeous colourful side flank pattern, they also have a tendency to put their speed and agility on full display during the winter months. At this time of the year, common dolphins are often observed hunting Halfbeaks (Belone belone) in small hunting pods, knifing through the surface and leaping high into the air as they pursue their nimble prey. What a fitting way for our traditional to temporarily leave the Atlantic.

Our dark grey speedboat, dull in colour in comparison to our Ribeira Brava but incredibly agile and versatile, met our island’s intelligent greyscale dolphins, the Bottlenose dolphins (Tursiops truncatus). The incredible reputation of these dolphins is known worldwide, what the animals lack in colour is made up for in intelligence and this is shown in every aspect of their behaviour. The pod of around 12 animals carefully approached our speedboat, with some of the individuals even lifting their heads to check out their admirers at the surface. We then moved on to search for the common dolphins but ended up returning without a second sighting but with a group of smiling guests!

By Paula Thake

Sightings of the day

Ribeira Brava

09:30 Short-beaked common dolphins

Stenella

13:30 Bottlenose dolphins